Petition for Ron Johnson to be honored as Michigan Legend
A true Legend. I'd greatly appreciate it if you signed. It's for a great cause for a great man/player.
http://petitionbureau.org/ronjohnsonlegend
Here is the NY Times recent story about him being diagnosed with Alzheimer's
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/sports/football/ex-giants-case-is-a-w…
November 17th, 2011 at 11:55 AM ^
got my vote.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^
It would be nice to make this happen while he can still appreciate it.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
You mean the Tech Comm professor for Engin100?
I jest, of course. Honor the man.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
We need a petition for a true Michigan legend, Scott Dreisbach.
November 17th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^
Dreisbach's comments at the golf outing this spring make him easily one of my least favorite Michigan players ever.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:50 PM ^
I like the NY Times article except the lazy implication that football might be a cause of his Altzheimer's. I don't know if his brother played football, but I doubt his mother did. Maybe factors other than football led to his disease.
November 17th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^
A well deserved honor. I'm sure it would happen at sometime, but it would be nice to see sooner than later...
November 17th, 2011 at 1:01 PM ^
I hope they do some of the older players while they're still around. Bump Elliott (#18) and Bob Chappuis (#49) of the Mad Magicians are still with us at ages 86 and 88, respectively.
November 17th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^
would be good too
November 17th, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^
This will be a poorly timed post, but I feel it needs to be noted. As much respect as I have for all winged-helmet wearers, I fear we (DB) has begun us on a slippery slope.
We could easily fill every jersey with a "Michigan Legend" patch. Is that the goal? If so, does Desmond become agnsty about wanted his number retire again?
After reading Three and Out and being reminded of Bo, I feel that we are such a rudderless program right now. We have no identity beyond our National perspective. We have retired numbers and we have legend patches. We have players that are spouting self interest and self-congratulations (sorry Des, you know you wouldn't have said all that if Bo was around) and we don't have a father to tell them to shut up and be a Michigan Man.
/rant on "Legends" patches.
That said, thank you much for bringing to my attention Mr. Johnson, who really is a true Michigan Man.
November 17th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
that not everyone can be a Legend, but RJ is a clear choice. He may well have been the second best running back in Michigan history.
November 17th, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^
If you weren't around back then, it is probably difficult to fully understand how Ron Johnson dominated games. He was a beast. I wish he had played for Bo. Most of all, though, I wish they would get far enough along with stem cell research and therapy that Johnson could enjoy the honor.
November 17th, 2011 at 7:29 PM ^
It's kind of sad because the university has done NOTHING (that I know of at least) to honor him in any way at all, since he left Michigan.
IMO I think the university tries to cover up that time period when Bump was the coach, because Michigan was not doing good for 90% of the time he coached. 1968 was a good year, but it will always be remembered for that game against ohio which is disappointing because Michigan nearly won the Big Ten that year.
I mean, in all of the DVDs and books about the football program that have been made/published, I cannot recall one that talks about Ron Johnson (save Tales From Michgian Stadium).