CHAPTER ONE A Head Above Right from the Beginning Calvin Johnson Jr was born in Newnan Georgia on September 29 1985 Newnan is about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta Georgia His father Calvin Johnson Sr was a train conductor for the Southern Pacific Railroad Johnson’s mother Arica worked for the Atlanta public school system Johnson has an older sister named Erica He also has a younger brother Wali and a younger sister Elan When Calvin was still a boy the family moved to Tyrone about 25 miles southwest of Atlanta The Johnsons were a close-knit family They went to church together on Sundays Johnson’s parents emphasized that it was important to be a good person Johnson was very kind as a child His mother told Austin Murphy the advice she gave her son If you treat people the way you want to be treated things will work out Both of Johnson’s parents taught their children the importance of hard work and of doing a job well Johnson’s mother also stressed that education was very important As Johnson told Murphy You didn’t want to bring home anything but an A or a B To my mom a C was like an F Johnson wanted to please his parents and always tried his best to get good grades 6
A Head Above Right from the Beginning Calvin Johnson’s family attended the 2007 NFL Draft with him From left to right are his father Calvin Sr Calvin Jr his sisters Erica and Elan his mother Arica and his brother Wali QUICK FACT Johnson looked up to Ken Griffey Jr an outfielder for the Seattle Mariners Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox Sports Sports Sports Growing up Johnson loved sports He loved watching them as much as he loved playing them He was a big fan of the Atlanta Braves baseball team He played Little League baseball starting when he was five or six He played outfield and catcher and sometimes pitched Johnson also loved football But when he was in elementary school and junior high school his mother would not allow him to play the sport She believed football was too dangerous 7
By the time Johnson was 12 years old he was already 6 feet tall His height gave him an advantage in sports When Johnson started at Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone his mother decided to allow him to play football He joined his high school’s team the Patriots playing wide receiver He took the number 81 QUICK FACT Even though Johnson had just started playing football it did not take him long to catch on By his sophomore year he had grown to be 6 feet 4 inches He became the starting wide receiver Before long he was considered one of the best high school football players in Georgia The job of a wide receiver is to catch the ball thrown by the quarterback The wide receiver then attempts to get the ball into the end zone to score a touchdown Johnson’s speed is part of what made him such a good wide receiver His ability to jump very high to catch the ball was another advantage He was also able to make acrobatic leaps and catches very few other people could make Chip Walker his coach in high school remembers one such amazing play by Johnson Walker told Austin Murphy that Johnson knock ed the cornerback into two other guys taking out all three of em College Superstar Johnson chose to go to Georgia Tech for college and play for its football team the Yellow Jackets Getting a good education was important to Johnson and his family so Georgia Tech was a good choice Also it is in Atlanta so Johnson would not be far from home Johnson decided to major in building construction Johnson made a mark at Georgia Tech even before his first football season started in the fall of 2004 During training camp he broke school records One record he broke was how high he could jump 43 inches Another was how far he could jump from a standing position 11 feet 3 inches Johnson was now 6 feet 5 inches 8 CALVIN MEGATRON JOHNSON SUPERSTAR WIDE RECEIVER
A Head Above Right from the Beginning Chip Walker Johnson’s high school football coach won three Georgia state championships with Sandy Creek High School including this 2009 win at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta QUICK FACT Several colleges with excellent football teams recruited Johnson to come play for them Some of the top teams included the University of Notre Dame and the University of Miami 9 tall He wore number 21 on his jersey at Georgia Tech In one of Johnson’s first games with the Yellow Jackets he scored the winning touchdown against Clemson He jumped over the defender to make the catch in the end zone Johnson immediately impressed his coaches and teammates and the players on opposing teams However he was always trying to improve In an
