Daryl E. Johnson (August 11, 1946 – November 25, 2023) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL), the

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(NFL), and the

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(WFL). He was a member of the Boston Patriots and was a member of the Patriots 1960s All-Decade Team.

College career

Johnson graduated from Maggie L. Walker High School in Richmond. He entered

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...

in 1964 and received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Business Administration degree. Johnson (5'10½"/170 lbs), was an invited walk-on at Morgan State, where he became a four-year

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playing on three undefeated CIAA Championship football teams from 1965–1967, and was a two-year letterman in

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. Johnson acquired many honors during his amazing college football career: however, he carved his own piece of Morgan State athletic history as the starting quarterback during the undefeated 1966 and 1967 CIAA Championship football seasons. In 1966, Morgan State University became the first predominantly

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

team selected to play in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

sanctioned Tangerine Bowl (now called the Capital One Bowl). Johnson led the Morgan State Golden Bears on one of the biggest stages the University had been on to a historic 14-6 victory over West Chester State (PA). The victory earned Morgan State University the distinction of being crowned the first historically black college or university (HBCU) to win a nationally recognized NCAA Championship Title, Atlantic Coast Champions. Johnson ended the 1966 season being selected to the first-team Maryland All-State Team as a

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

and first-team ALL-CIAA. During the 1967 season, Johnson led the Golden Bears to their third consecutive CIAA Championship and undefeated seasons. He set a school record by becoming the first quarterback to pass for over 1,000 yards in a single season, completing 54 percent of his passes for 1,050 yards. His senior year performance was so outstanding that he was selected first-team Maryland All-State as quarterback, first-team All-CIAA quarterback and first-team '' Pittsburgh Courier'' Black All-American defensive back. Johnson finished his career leading Morgan State to the longest winning streak in college football at the time. The Golden Bears only lost two games during his four-year career. While playing for Morgan, he played quarterback, flanker, defensive back and was the teams placekicker. Johnson is a member of Morgan State University's Varsity "M" Club athletic Hall Of Fame.

Professional career

Johnson was selected 1968 Common draft in the 8th round. He would play for the

's Boston Patriots (1968–1969), the

's Boston Patriots (1970). Johnson became a starter in his rookie season. He was selected to the Boston Patriots All-Time Team of the Decades of the 1960s and honoured at a special pre-game and halftime ceremony on December 5, 1971, at Schaefer in conjunction with Gino Cappelletti Day. Daryl was also a starting defensive back in the

with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

/ Shreveport Steamers.

Personal life and death

Johnson was married to Helen Griffin and they had two children. Johnson died on November 25, 2023, at the age of 77.Local obituary: Daryl Johnson, member of Patriots’ 1960s All-Decade Team
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References

*''The Daily Times'', Salisbury, Maryland 11/27/67 *''Kingsport Time News'' 12/11/66 *''Afro American'' October 1967 *''Afro American'' December 1967 *UPI Feb. 1968 {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Daryl 1946 births 2023 deaths American football cornerbacks Boston Patriots players Houston Texans (WFL) players Morgan State Bears football players New England Patriots players Shreveport Steamer players Players of American football from Richmond, Virginia American Football League players