Summerfield Johnston Jr. (born August 28, 1932), aka Skey Johnston, is an American businessman and

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

player.Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame
Benjamin Butler
A Passion for Polo: The Johnston Family Legacy
''CitysScope'' He served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola Enterprises was a marketer, producer, and distributor of Coca-Cola products. It was formerly the anchor bottler for Western Europe and most of North America. Coca-Cola Enterprises' products included Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, ...

from 1991 to 2001.Coca-Cola Enterprises: Cola-Cola History
The Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Board of Trustees biography
/ref>Local families have Coke connection
'' Chattanooga Free Press'', February 26, 2010The Bottleneck At Coca Cola Enterprises
''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'', September 13, 1992Memorial Service Set Tuesday For Cleveland's Skeeter Johnston
''

The Chattanoogan ''The Chattanoogan'' and its website Chattanoogan.com is an online media outlet that concentrates on news from Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is locate ...

'', April 7, 2007Betsy Morris, Patricia Sellers
What Really Happened At Coke Doug Ivester was a demon for information. But he couldn't see what was coming at the showdown in Chicago.
''

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

'', January 10, 2000

Early life

Summerfield Johnston Jr. was born in 1932 and grew up on the 4,000-acre Bendabout Farm in McDonald, Bradley County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. His grandfather was James F. Johnston, the founder of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola franchisee. His father, Summerfield Johnston Sr., worked for the family business. He graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, where he played

in 1951.

Career

He joined the board of directors of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1959. In 1991, he merged it with Coca-Cola Enterprises. He served as its chairman and CEO from 1991 to 2001. He is a former board member of

SunTrust Banks SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

and SunTrust Bank of Chattanooga, N.A.He sits on the board of trustees of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress and the

University of Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was found ...

Foundation.

Polo

Johnston is a

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

polo player. In the 1950s, he organized polo matches on his family farm in McDonald, Tennessee. He later founded the Chattanooga Polo Club, later known as the Bendabout Polo Club. He served as the long-time president of the Gulfstream Polo Club in

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Wort ...

. He served as vice president of the

United States Polo Association The United States Polo Association (USPA) is the national governing body for the sport of polo in the United States, and a retail chain that manufactures and promotes a lifestyle sports fashion brand of ready-to-wear casual footwear, apparel, and ...

from 1979 to 1989, president from 1980 to 1984 and as chairman from 1984 to 1988, and still sits on its board as a governor-at-large. He owns the Flying H ranch in

Big Horn, Wyoming Big Horn is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sheridan County, Wyoming, Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 457 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. History Big Horn is along the ...

, home to the Flying H Polo Club, and the Everglades Polo Club in

Wellington, Florida Wellington is a village west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area and the fifth largest municipality in Palm Beach County by population. As of the 2020 census, the village had a po ...

. In 1982, he was awarded the '' Hugo Dalmar Trophy'' for exemplary sportsmanship. On February 17, 2001, he was inducted into the

Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame The Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization to celebrate the sport of polo.Horace Laffaye, Dennis J. Amato, ''Polo in the United States: A History'', Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2011, p. 28/ref> Overview ...

. He is a proponent of the return of polo to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Personal life

His British-born wife, Gil Johnston, is Vice President of the Polo Training Foundation.Nicole Lever
Gillian Johnston's Passion For Horses Has Never Dwindled
'' The Chronicle of the Horse'', January 26, 2005 His late son was Summerfield Johnston III, a renowned

player who served as Vice President of Coca-Cola Enterprises. His daughter, Gillian Johnston, is also a polo player and serves as governor-at-large of the United States Polo Association.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Summerfield Jr. Living people 1932 births People from Bradley County, Tennessee Businesspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee University of Virginia alumni American businesspeople Coca-Cola people American polo players University of Tennessee at Chattanooga people