Former New Mexico State player and NM State Ring of Honor member Charley Johnson died Tuesday evening at the age of 85, the university announced Wednesday.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest Aggie football players of all time, Johnson led NM State as its quarterback in two of its best seasons in 1959 and 1960 after originally arriving in Las Cruces on a basketball scholarship. He led the nation with 18 touchdown passes in 1959 and remains the only player in Sun Bowl history to win the game’s MVP honor in consecutive seasons, doing so in 1959 and 1960.
The Aggies finished 8-3 and a perfect 11-0, respectively, in those seasons and were ranked No. 19 in the final Coaches’ Poll of the 1960 season. To this day, 1960 is the only time NM State has gone undefeated. Johnson completed 214 passes for 2,960 total yards and threw 31 touchdowns in his Aggies career.
Johnson was inducted into the NM State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970 and is one of two players who have their jersey retired by the Aggies. Johnson wore No. 33. He was later inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 as a native of Big Spring, Tex.
Following college, Johnson was selected in the 10th round of the 1960 AFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers and in the eighth round of the 1961 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Johnson opted for St. Louis and was the team’s starting quarterback from 1962-66, earning Pro Bowl honors in 1963. He was traded to the Houston Oilers in 1970 and later joined the Denver Broncos in 1972, starting 41 games for Denver through the 1975 season. He led the Broncos to their first winning season in 1973 and was later placed in the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame in 1986, and he finished his 14-year career with 1,737 completions, 170 touchdowns and 24,410 passing yards.
Unknown date and location; USA: FILE PHOTO; St. Louis Cardinals quarterback Charley Johnson (12) in action against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“He taught us how to win,” said teammate and fellow Broncos Ring of Fame member Haven Moss to the Denver Broncos in 2017.
Off the field, Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from NM State in 1961 with a 4.0 GPA. He went on to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees in the same field from Washington University in St. Louis while playing in the NFL.
Johnson also served in NM State’s ROTC corps as an undergraduate, and was called into active duty for the army in 1967 after a delay due to his studies. He was unable to go into active combat, so he served with NASA as a second lieutenant for the U.S. Army Reserve for two years while playing for the Cardinals.
After his football and military career, he founded Johnson Compression Services and served as its engineering and product development consultant from 1981-99. Johnson then led NM State’s chemical engineering department from 2000-04 and briefly served as the Aggies’ interim football coach in the 2009 offseason after the firing of Hal Mumme.
“Charley Johnson was the ultimate Aggie,” NM State football head coach Tony Sanchez told the Sun-News. “… He was loved and admired by so many in our community. He will be dearly missed.”
Johnson was also known for his generosity and charitable work, founding the Warren B. Woodson Endowed Fund for Athletics in 2003. He also received the James F. Cole Memorial Award for Service from NM State, given to those who have “shown progressive support to NMSU, dedicated involvement with NMSU, impactful civic and humanitarian service at NMSU and within the communities around them and notable professional service.”
Aug 20, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; General view of the historical monument pillars of former Denver Broncos players at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. From left: Floyd Little (44), Austin Gonsoulin (Goose Gonsoulin), Lionel Taylor (87), Gerald H. Phipps and Charley Johnson (12), Paul Smith (70), Frank Tripucka (18), Billy Thompson (36), Craig Morton (7), Haven Moses (25) and Jim Turner (15).
“He was a great, kind human being,” Aggies athletic director Mario Moccia told the Sun-News. “He was the true renaissance man.
“He was a great player, a great man, a businessman, he was in the military, and he ran the Chemical Engineering Department at New Mexico State. That’s unheard of. He was the one guy that we could point to say, ‘Hey, that guy’s name that’s up on the Ring of Fame in Denver — that’s an Aggie.'”
Johnson is expected to be honored during NM State’s game against Liberty at 8:15 p.m. this Saturday in Las Cruces.
“(He’s the) greatest football player in New Mexico State history,” said former NM State golf coach and fellow NM State Athletic Hall of Fame member Paul Brilliant in an X post. “One of the nicest, smartest and happiest people I’ve ever met. (He was) dedicated to Aggie nation for life.”
This story may be updated with further comments.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Former NM State quarterback Charley Johnson has died at age 85
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Publish date : 2024-09-04 11:48:00
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