James Archie Johnson Jr. (September 10, 1912 – November 27, 2004) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was tapped to reintroduce men's sports to East Carolina after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was the seventh

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the

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 ...

and

teams at East Carolina Teachers College. He also was the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

for all sports teams. Before coaching, Johnson was a 16

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...

winning athlete between 1933 and 1937. Johnson was inducted in 1978 into the ECU Hall of Fame.

"12th Man Tackle"

In October 1977, William & Mary met heavily favored East Carolina University in the

Oyster Bowl The Oyster Bowl is a regular season college football game played annually in the Hampton Roads-area of Virginia. The game has featured match-ups between high school, NCAA Division III, and at present, NCAA Division I teams, at various points in it ...

. In the third quarter ECU led by three points. With 3:15 left in the third quarter, William & Mary

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Tom Rozantz broke loose and ran for the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...

. Jim Johnson, described by ''

The Virginian Pilot ''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virgi ...

'' as "a portly 65-year-old gentleman in a raincoat", ran from the sidelines and threw a block tackle on Rozantz before he could score the winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. The unusual turn of events silenced the screaming William & Mary fans, and the officials gathered to discuss their course of action. After deliberation, the play was ruled a touchdown.Pirate Alumni newsletter
June 23, 2008, retrieved February 1, 2009.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Jim 1912 births 2004 deaths American football tackles American men's basketball players East Carolina Pirates athletic directors East Carolina Pirates baseball coaches East Carolina Pirates baseball players East Carolina Pirates football coaches East Carolina Pirates football players East Carolina Pirates men's basketball coaches East Carolina Pirates men's basketball players Players of American football from North Carolina Basketball coaches from North Carolina Basketball players from North Carolina 20th-century American sportsmen