Anderson Sidney "Andy" Johnson (October 18, 1952 – May 16, 2018) was an

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

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) during the 1970s.

Education

He was a 1970 graduate of Athens High School, now

Clarke Central High School Clarke Central High School (CCHS) is located in Athens, Georgia, United States. In 1970, Clarke County schools were desegregated, and the high school for black children, Burney-Harris High School (formerly Athens High and Industrial School), and t ...

, in Athens, Georgia, where he played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He then attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Sports career

Johnson earned Georgia football and baseball letters in 1971, 1972, & 1973. He played quarterback as a sophomore, leading the Bulldogs to an 11–1 record, passing for 341 yards and rushing for 870 yards. In 1973, he passed for 506 yards for the season. He had 431 rush attempts for 1799 yards during his Georgia career becoming one of the top five SEC rushing quarterbacks for a career. He played

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

for the Georgia baseball team. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1974 in the 5th round of the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, pick 112 overall. He played

with the Patriots from 1974 to 1981. Johnson's best season was in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

when he scored 10 total touchdowns and had 1,042 combined yards of rushing and receiving while the Patriots finished 2nd in the AFC East which was good enough for a playoff spot. In his game against the Raiders in the Divisional round, he rushed for 32 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown, though they lost the game 24-21 amid dubious penalty calling. His productivity declined after the 1978 season, a season in which he was one of four players on the team who rushed for over 500 yards (

Sam Cunningham Samuel Lewis Cunningham Jr (August 15, 1950 – September 7, 2021), nicknamed "Bam", was an American football fullback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football at ...

Horace Ivory Horace Orlando Ivory (born August 8, 1954) is a former American football running back in the NFL from 1977 through 1982. He attended Nolan Catholic High School Nolan Catholic High School is a private, coeducational, college preparatory school, ...

and quarterback

Steve Grogan Steven James Grogan (born July 24, 1953) is a former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Kansas State University and was sel ...

). Over the next four seasons, he rushed for only 159 yards combined. He played one season with the Boston Breakers of the USFL before retiring. He was named to the New England Patriots All-1970s Team in 2009. He was a 1996 inductee into the

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in the United States at . Exhibitions The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Induc ...

and 2000 inductee into the Athens Athletic Hall of Fame. He was vice-president of the Georgia Lettermen's Club.

Death

Johnson died on May 16, 2018, age 65, from a lengthy undisclosed illness. He is survived by his wife Charlotte and their three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Andy (American football) 1952 births 2018 deaths American football quarterbacks American football running backs Baseball shortstops Boston/New Orleans/Portland Breakers players Georgia Bulldogs baseball players Georgia Bulldogs football players New England Patriots players Players of American football from Athens, Georgia Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state)