Top Defender Johnston To Enter Rogers High Hall Of Fame

STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Charlie Johnston, seated Aug. 7 at Rogers High, played on the Rogers Mountaineers football team in the 1960s.
STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Charlie Johnston, seated Aug. 7 at Rogers High, played on the Rogers Mountaineers football team in the 1960s.

ROGERS -- Charlie Johnston is one of the best defensive players to have ever worn a Rogers High football uniform.

Johnston anchored a Mounties defense his junior and senior seasons in 1967 and 1968 that gave up an average of just eight points a game while compiling a 12-2 conference record, including a 7-0 mark in 1967.

2014 Athletic Hall of Fame

Rogers High Mountaineers

The induction ceremony will be held Sept. 27 at Rogers High.

Player^Sport

Dickie West^Football, Track

Mindy Wishon Brown^Basketball, Volleyball, Track

Tom Olsen^Basketball

Gary Jackson^Distinguished Service

Tom Woodruff^Baseball Coach

Charlie Johnston^Football, Track

Alan Davidson^Football, Track

Johnston was a three-year starter on the defensive line, and he was named the outstanding lineman in the 1-AA Conference his senior season. He also played on the offensive line and at tailback, being pressed into service in the backfield his senior year after a rash of injuries.

For his efforts, Johnston will be inducted into the Rogers High Mountaineer Athletic Hall of Fame. The 2014 inductees will be recognized before the Mounties' Sept. 26 game at home against Springdale Har-Ber before being inducted the next night at a ceremony at the school.

"Playing high school football is one of my fondest memories," Johnston said. "To be with all those that are in the Hall of Fame and those that are going in is very humbling."

Johnston moved to Rogers from Oregon when he was in junior high, and he credits then Mounties head coach Gary "Blackie" Bond and the assistant coaches on staff for all his success.

"I always think about all my coaches because they had faith in me. They believed in me," Johnston said. "The coaching staff was fantastic. They worked hard with me, and they taught me what they knew. It was a good time."

Former Rogers defensive coordinator and head track coach Barney Hayes was a year behind Johnston in high school, and he remembers his former teammate as a hard-nosed football player.

"Charlie was a great player, and he had a lot of talent," Hayes said. "He could play a lot of different positions. We ran out of running backs, and he played there when we needed him to."

Johnston anchored a Mounties defensive line his junior year that gave up just 25 points the final eight games of the season while posting four shutouts. His senior season, Rogers gave up just 24 points the final seven weeks, and they had four shutouts that year.

Johnston said the Mounties' defense those two seasons was full of physical players.

"I loved to watch people's eyes bounce around when I would smack them," Johnston said. "Defensively, we were very good. Our three down linemen were good. We were tough; we were a real good defense."

Johnston was moved from tight end to tailback his senior season after the team suffered several injuries at the position.

"I was never a very good tailback, but they needed someone who would at least whack people so I moved to tailback," Johnston said. "I didn't have any breakaway speed. I just ran north and south."

Johnston also excelled at track as he won the pole vault at the district meet his senior year.

"I had the record for a while because no one vaulted," Johnston said with a laugh.

Sports on 09/02/2014

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