Jim Johnson

This is a bit overdue, so of course by now everyone knows that Eagles defensive mastermind Jim Johnson succombed to Melanoma last week.

He and his wife Vicky are great friends of my family. Jim would invite my dad to go golfing with him and some other Eagles assistants from time to time, and Vicky is very dear friend of my aunt. It was great, at the 2003 family christmas party, Vicky was there and absolutely incensed that Sheldon Brown was not part of the recently announced Pro Bowl selections.

I could go on about Jim as a football innovator, who blitzed with what seemed like reckless abandon, but in reality it was all controlled chaos. It made the Eagle teams of this decade a joy to watch.

However Jim Johnson was a terrific man, with apparantly a very dry sense of humor. I had the pleasure of meeting him one time in person. He had gotten me, my two brothers, and my dad field passes for the Sunday Night Dallas game 2 years ago. It was Dawk's first game back after missing 9 games from a neck stinger. We were standing behind the endzone when he came out of the tunnel, turned around to face the crowd, and in true Dawk fasion completely lost his mind. I turned to my brother to ask if he had gotten a picture and he said "no, I couldn't move, I was afraid he was going to punch me in the face."

The birds got crushed in that game. Jason Witten ran about 35 yards after the catch with no helmet on, and I'm pretty sure the Eagle's punt team led the time of possession battle. It was still so much fun. We were on the field at the Linc, following the play up and down the sidelines, my brother mingling with the cheerleaders. I also have a newfound appreciation for the hits.

Afterwards, I got to meet Jim and thank him for what was a really great night despite the loss. He shook my hand and apologized to me for having to see that performance.

One year in college, I had an assignment to interview a coach. While most of my classmates were calling up their old high school football coaches, I swung for the fence and called my dad. I asked if there was anyway at all that I could e-mail Jim some questions for my assignment. My dad called my aunt, who got Jim's direct line to the Nova Care complex from Vicky. He was expecting my call.

I was able to conduct a phone interview with Jim that I tried to keep short (he was game planning for Randy Moss that week) but he gave me all of the time I needed. He gave me very in depth answers about what it takes to coach, at any level - the ability and desire to teach, not just coach.

Jim made good on that principle. His pupil, Steve Spagnuolo, won the Super Bowl as the D Coordinator of the Giants. John Harbaugh made the play-offs in his first season as head coach of the Ravens. Of course Sean McDermott has the task of being Jim's successor in Philadelphia.

He also had his players selected to the pro-bowl 26 times. He also has a huge hand in the Hall of Fame career of Brian Dawkins.

Jim is going to be missed in so many facets of life.