Reed Johnson, Millennium Hall of Fame

Twenty-seven years later, former Corona del Mar High quarterback

Reed Johnson is given another a chance, a forum through the media to

credit and thank his teammates.

You see, moments after he guided the South to victory in the 1972

Orange County All-Star football game, a television reporter from a local

station stuck a microphone in Johnson’s face and wanted a quick

interview. Johnson was the Player of the Game, after getting a

last-minute nod to start.

“I was so nervous being in front of that camera,” said Johnson. “Then

they started asking me about my senior year in high school and how that

went, and what always nagged me over the years -- and I don’t know if

anybody even saw it -- was that I never gave credit to my other (CdM)

teammates. It was all me, me, me, and it bothered me from the moment I

left (the field) there (at Orange Coast College).”

In that ’72 summer classic, the original all-star starter for the

South, Westminster’s Jeff Siemens, broke his finger in the Shrine

All-Star game at the Rose Bowl.

“I lucked out,” said Johnson, whose counterpart, Savanna’s Steve

DeBerg, was the starting quarterback for the North in the Rebels’ 14-0

win.

“That’s my claim to fame,” Johnson added. “(DeBerg) went on to the

pros and I went on to have knee surgery.”

DeBerg enjoyed a long career in the NFL, performing as one of the

league’s top quarterbacks with the Kansas City Chiefs, while Johnson

became the leading touchdown passer in the South Coast Conference while

at Orange Coast -- for one week.

In the first game of the 1973 season, when Johnson was an OCC

sophomore starter, he blew out his knee and never fully recovered. Later,

he earned a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton, but never suited up in

two years, following another knee injury.

But Johnson, a star on CdM Coach Dave Holland’s first championship

team, played a season to remember in the autumn of 1971 before going

head-to-head with DeBerg.

The Sea Kings, whose offensive specialty was the option with Johnson

and running back Bob Ferraro, captured the old Irvine League title, the

school’s first football championship.

A two-year varsity player, Johnson started at cornerback on defense in

1970 as a junior, while serving as second-string quarterback.

When Holland gave Johnson the controls in ‘71, CdM beat Back Bay rival

Newport Harbor, 7-0, in the season opener. It was the Sea Kings’ first

win over the Sailors since 1964 and ignited a 7-2 regular-season record

-- the best in 10 years of varsity football for CdM.

Johnson rushed for 187 yards and eight touchdowns in 102 carries,

reaching the end zone via the ground in seven straight games, his longest

a 43-yard touchdown run against Los Alamitos. (Yes, back in those days,

CdM played the big boys, including Los Al, Santa Ana, Edison and Fountain

Valley.)

In CdM’s 12-7 victory over Edison, which allowed the Sea Kings to win

the league title, Johnson separated his shoulder just before halftime.

But he returned to the field to play the second half in pain, eventually

scoring the game-winning touchdown on a broken play.

In another comeback win, CdM beat Costa Mesa, 15-14, in Week 8, as

Johnson completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to junior John Andrews in the

waning moments to tie the game. The Sea Kings went for two and made it.

“I remember coming over to Dave Holland on the sidelines and he was

staring out to nowhere,” Johnson said. “I said to him, ‘Coach, we did it!

We did it!’ But he didn’t say anything. Later, he said he was sorry, that

he just couldn’t believe it. I remember that look on his face like it was

yesterday. (Holland) was usually very vocal, and for him not to say a

word was kind of funny.”

Johnson, now 45 and owner of a Seattle-based mortgage company,

rehabilitated his knee injury and took a recruiting trip to Idaho State

in Pocatello, Idaho, after his sophomore season at OCC.

“I spent the weekend there, had a great party and then left,” said

Johnson, who figured there was no way he could be happy attending school

and playing football in a “farming community.”

Johnson eventually accepted Cal State Fullerton’s offer, but

physically was never able to perform.

At CdM, Johnson shared the limelight with guys like Ferraro, John

Miles, Matt Cox, Carlo Tosti and Joe Tosti, while linemen Tom Gilbert,

John Kenney, Greg Collins, Phil Tanner, Scott Hilliard and Malcolm

DeMille (center) paved the way for the Sea Kings’ potent attack.

“It was really a team effort,” said Johnson, a member of the Daily

Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, celebrating the millennium.

Johnson lives in Edmonds, Wash., a Seattle suburb, with his wife,

Dawn, and their young son, Noah.