Robert Douglas Johnson (born August 19, 1946) is a former

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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

who played 12 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, first in the American Football League (AFL), and then 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). He was the Bengals first ever draft selection when he was selected with the 2nd overall pick in the

1968 NFL/AFL draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

College career

Johnson played college football at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

, where he was the first recruit of Tennessee coach

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, wher ...

. He was named both All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) and All-American in 1966 and again in 1967. He earned the Jacobs Trophy, given to the SEC's best blocker, and he was named the SEC's Most Outstanding Lineman by the Birmingham Touchdown Club. Johnson finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a center. Also in 1967, he was named an Academic All-American and was vice president of his class while earning a degree in industrial engineering. In 1989, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Professional career

He was the first player chosen by the Bengals in their initial season. He was the second pick overall in the draft, preceded by future Hall of Famer

Ron Yary Anthony Ronald Yary (born July 16, 1946) is an American former professional football player who played as an offensive tackle primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and also for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was ...

. He was the second highest-drafted center ever selected in an NFL Draft, after

Ki Aldrich Charles Collins "Ki" Aldrich (June 1, 1916 – March 12, 1983) was an American football player. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960. Early life Aldrich was born in Rogers, Texas and attended Temple High School in T ...

in 1939. He was an AFL All-Star in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

. Johnson was the last original Bengal to retire, after the 1978 season. His uniform number 54 was retired by the team, and remains the only number the team has retired. However, he came out of retirement in 1979 when Bengals center

Blair Bush Blair Walter Bush (born November 25, 1956) is a center who played 17 seasons in the National Football League for four teams. Early life and education Bush was born in Fort Hood, Texas. He played high school football at Palos Verdes in Palos Verd ...

suffered a knee injury and the Bengals asked Johnson to return as a long snapper on punts, field goals and extra points. Following his retirement as a player, Johnson worked as a color analyst on Bengals radio from 1981 to 1985. He also worked as a color analyst on some ESPN college football broadcasts in 1979 prior to his return to the Bengals.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Bob 1946 births Living people American football centers American Football League players American football long snappers Cincinnati Bengals announcers Cincinnati Bengals players National Football League announcers Tennessee Volunteers football players All-American college football players American Football League All-Star players American Football League first overall draft picks College Football Hall of Fame inductees National Football League players with retired numbers Players of American football from Gary, Indiana American Presbyterians