Sheryl Ann Johnson (born December 9, 1957 in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was ...

) is a former

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

player and coach from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. She grew up in Cupertino, CA, and attended Monta Vista High School. She was a three-sport athlete at the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Olympics

She was a member of the United States national team from 1978–1991 and was a three time Olympian. She was a member of the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

field hockey team, although she did not compete because the U.S. boycotted the games. She competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

where she and the U.S. National Team won the bronze medal.

Pan American Games

In 1979, she competed in the Pan American Games where team USA finished second, winning a silver medal. Four years later, when

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

hosted the Summer Games, Johnson finished in eighth position with ''Team USA''. She was named U.S. Field Hockey Athlete of the Year in 1986, 1987 & 1989.

World Record

She long held the Guinness Book of World Records record for the most capped international player, competing in 137 international matches.

Awards

Johnson retired from the national team in 1991. She was inducted into the USFHA Hall of Fame in May 1994. She was one of 461 athletes to receive a

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

in lieu of competing in the 1980 Olympics. She was honored in the spring of 2001 by the C-society when she was recognized as the only woman in the

history to earn a Varsity letter in three sports. She coached the Women's field Hockey team at Stanford University 1984–2002, and was an eight-time NorPac coach of the year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Sheryl 1957 births Living people American female field hockey players Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in field hockey Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California California Golden Bears women's basketball players California Golden Bears field hockey players California Golden Bears softball players Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Congressional Gold Medal recipients 20th-century American women