CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR Introduction 4 A Head Above Right from the Beginning 6 Lion Cub 14 Pride of the Lions 24 Off the Field 32 Timeline 40 Other Living Legends of Football 42 Glossary 44 For More Information 45 Index 47 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Calvin Megatron Johnson was a football star almost from the first day he stepped on the field His height speed and ability to make acrobatic leaps and catches made him one of the best wide receivers ever to play the game Johnson spent nine seasons in the National Football League NFL from 2007 to 2015 He played all nine of those seasons with the Detroit Lions During his NFL career he scored 83 touchdowns He made 731 receptions for an amazing total of 11,619 yards Johnson impressed fans coaches teammates and players on opposing teams Often people could not believe how fast he was He ran past defenders as if they were standing still Sometimes the catches he made seemed impossible He would leap to incredible heights twisting his body at the same time to make a catch James Lofton an NFL radio analyst told Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated Everybody knows they’re throwing Johnson the ball and he catches it anyway Off the field Johnson worked as hard as he could to make the most of his speed and abilities Every day of the week he prepared so he would be able to perform well on game days As amazing as he was he never called any attention to himself He preferred to stay out of the media spotlight and let his performance on the field speak for him 4
Introduction Calvin Johnson makes one of his typically acrobatic catches to score a touchdown in a September 2014 game against the New York Giants 5
