"[1] He did achieve some success as an athlete there, including notably a gold medal as a member of the 4 × 100 m relay at the 1963 Pan American Games (with Ira Murchison, Ollan Cassell and Earl Young),[3][4] but injury curtailed his career.

[5] He was not a member of the USA track team for the 1964 Olympics; he was involved in an automobile accident on the way to the qualifying meet at Stanford University.

Johnson got the job at St. Albans when, as a community organizer, he confronted the headmaster, the late Charles S. Martin, and objected that he was running “an all-white school in a black town.” To the retort "What was his solution?

[2][9] At St. Albans, Johnson helped steer some 200 inner city boys to the prep school, via an opportunity he created called The RISK Program.

Since then, notable Olympians coached by Johnson include Esther Stroy (a 15-year-old girl he trained through a neighborhood track club to get to the 1968 Olympics[6]), PattiSue Plumer, Evelyn Ashford, and Chandra Cheesborough.

[1] He also trained Olympians and record holders such as Lacey O'Neal, Fred Sowerby, Martin McGrady, Sheila Ingram, Larry Shipp and Ray Brown.

Future actor Clancy Brown (who portrayed the prison guard captain in "The Shawshank Redemption") was a St. Alban's shot putter trained by Johnson.

[11] He was still an active coach with a small, select group of athletes that has included Justin Gatlin, Tiffany Williams, and David Oliver.