No. 37 | |||||||||||
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Position: | Cornerback | ||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||
Born: | Dallas, Texas, U.S. | March 31, 1938||||||||||
Died: | May 8, 2024 San Francisco Bay Area, California, U.S. | (aged 86)||||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
Weight: | 187 lb (85 kg) | ||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||
High school: | Kingsburg (Kingsburg, California) | ||||||||||
College: | Santa Monica (1957–1958) UCLA (1959–1960) | ||||||||||
NFL draft: | 1961 / round: 1 / pick: 6 | ||||||||||
AFL draft: | 1961 / round: 4 / pick: 32 | ||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR | |||||||||||
James Earl Johnson (March 31, 1938 – May 8, 2024) was an American professional football cornerback who played for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1961 to 1976. He was named to the first-team on the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, and in 1994, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Johnson was born in Dallas and raised in Kingsburg, California. He was the younger brother of Rafer Johnson, winner of the decathlon gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Johnson played college football for the UCLA Bruins and was selected by the 49ers in the first round of the 1961 NFL draft.
Johnson was selected by San Francisco with the sixth overall pick in the 1961 NFL draft. He was selected four times as a first-team All-Pro and played in five Pro Bowls. His jersey (No. 37) was retired by the 49ers in 1977.