Randolph Klaus Johnson (June 17, 1944 – September 17, 2009) 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 ...

player. He was the starting

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 ...

for the Atlanta Falcons in their inaugural season of 1966. He also had brief careers with the New York Giants,

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, and Green Bay Packers. In 1974, he played with The Hawaiians of the World Football League. Born and raised in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, Johnson graduated from its Sam Houston High School in 1962. He played college football at

Texas A&I Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

in Kingsville (now Texas A&M–Kingsville), teammates with guard

Gene Upshaw Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008), also known as "Uptown Gene" and "Highway 63", was an American professional football player for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Foot ...

. Johnson is a member of the Texas A&M Kingsville Javelina Hall of Fame. A two time All-American in 1964 and 1965. He led the Javs in passing in all 4 years he played, and led the team in rushing in 1964. Johnson was the Lone Star Conference MVP in 1964 after leading the conference in passing. He was also the MVP in the 1965 Blue-Grey Classic, MVP in the Coaches All-America game and one of the top performers in the Senior Bowl. Johnson entered the

1966 NFL Draft The 1966 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 27, 1965. The expansion Atlanta Falcons were awarded the first pick in each round as well as the final pick in each of the first five rou ...

, and became the first Texas A&I player to ever be selected in the first round (16th overall). He was also selected in the 4th round of the AFL draft by the Denver Broncos. Over his professional career, he completed 647 of 1,286 passes (a 50.3-percentage) for 51 touchdowns and 90 interceptions. He also ran for 573 yards and 10 touchdowns over his career. Johnson spent the later years of his life in seclusion. He died September 17, 2009, in Brevard, North Carolina.

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*
World Football League players
– Randy Johnson * 1944 births 2009 deaths American football quarterbacks Atlanta Falcons players Green Bay Packers players New York Giants players Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players The Hawaiians players Washington Redskins players Players of American football from San Antonio {{quarterback-1940s-stub