A photo of U.S History teacher Eric Johnson playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Photo By Amanda Hadleyby Linh Nguyen, Staff Writer
Government and U.S. History teacher at Fountain Valley High School (FVHS), Eric Johnson, tells his story about his days in the National Football League (NFL) and how he transitioned into becoming a teacher.
Johnson is currently a teacher at FVHS and teaches government and United States (U.S.) history.
Johnson’s passion for football grew as he grew himself when he lived in Washington and while he was attending Washington State University. While attending, he wasn’t able to get drafted into the NFL the first time, and this setback became something he thought of as a learning experience for him and everyone else instead.
“My goal was to play in the NFL and I didn’t make it right off. It took a lot of work and I matured,” said Johnson.
Johnson, therefore, decided to move down to California to play with a new league named the The World Football League (WFL). He played for 2 years, but the league was forced to fold. His career began to kick off when he started playing for the San Fransisco 49ers, but they ended up cutting him from the team in 1976. He prospered and attempted to try out for the NFL once more and Johnson ended up being eligible to play as a safety for the Philadelphia Eagles the following year.
He was later traded again back to the San Fransisco 49ers in 1979 and played for another year until he was running full speed for a kickoff and dislocated his shoulder, which led him to not be able to play for the rest of the season due to nerve damage. Johnson played for various other teams in the following years in the United States Football League (USFL).
During the time he was injured, Johnson gave a lot of thought about what he wanted to do in the future after his football career. It was very difficult for him to transition away from his life of football into considering a life doing something else.
“It was hard not playing football because it was my whole life. That’s all I did, that all I thought about, that’s all I wanted to do,” said Johnson.
Johnson soon became set on coaching and started coaching when he was still playing in the USFL. After his football career, Johnson got inspiration from both his parents, being teachers, to become one as well since he was going to coach high school football.
The kickoff of his teacher career began with Johnson being a Physical Education (P.E.) and a U.S. history teacher. However in 2008, Barack Obama was being elected for president which sparked Johnson’s interests in politics and government. Luckily, there was a job opening for government at FVHS and Johnson immediately took up the offer, leading him to where he is now here, as a Baron.
