Michigan has always been known for it’s running game and good running backs. One might think that tradition began with head coach Bo Schembechler and a lot of really did. But, Bo didn’t become the Michigan head coach until 1969, and the Wolverines had a really good running back in 1967 and 1968 under head coach Bump Elliott.
You won’t see former Michigan running back Ron Johnson on any top 10 career rushing lists for Michigan any more, but he still shows up in the record books.
In 1995, Tim Biakabutuka ran for 313 yards against Ohio State. But, strangely, that’s not the all time single game rushing record for Michigan. The record belongs to Ron Johnson, who ran for 347 yards in the rain and the mud against Wisconsin in 1968. The game took place in Ann Arbor in November, so it was a bit cold as well.
Albert Herrnstein must have been one heck of a great player back in 1902 because he had 7 touchdowns in one game, which is the Michigan record for rushing touchdowns. Herrnstein also had 6 in a game once and 5 in a game twice. Ron Johnson scored 5 touchdowns that day against Wisconsin with a couple of runs of 60 yards or more leading the way. That was good enough for 3rd all time behind the legendary Mr Herrnstein.
Johnson broke the all time single game rushing record in his last game in the Big House and Michigan beat Wisconsin, 34-9. The win improved the Wolverines to 8-1 on the season and was their 8th straight win after losing their opener
Johnson also ranks 4th on the all time single game record with 270 yards rushing against Navy in
1967, which was his third game as a starter and established him as a star.
Growing up the son of a truck driver in Detroit, Ron Johnson followed behind a star baseball playing older brother named Alex who was playing in the major leagues by the time Ron was in high school in 1964. Alex was good enough to win the American League Batting championship of 1970.
Not much is still known about Ron Johnson’s recruitment out of high school, but Michigan was the closest big time college football program.
These were the 1960’s and options weren’t as plentiful for a 6-1, 200 black running back in those years as they are today. But, the Big 10 had been taking black players for much longer than most areas of the nation. Michigan coach Bump Elliott was known as a great recruiter and he lured Johnson to play for his Michigan Wolverines in 1965.
Freshmen were not eligible until 1972, so Johnson played on the Michigan freshman team. As a sophomore, Johnson didn’t log much playing time because the Wolverines had talented senior running backs, Jim Detwiler and Carl Ward. Detwiler was a 1st round draft choice of the Baltimore Colts, but was a complete bust due to a knee injury. Ward was a 4th round pick of the Cleveland Browns. He, too, had a disappointing NFL career only playing 3 seasons. Stay in school kids.
According to the stat site that I use, Ron Johnson ran for 1.005 yards and 6 touchdowns as a junior in 1967. He also caught 13 passes out of the backfield for 179 yards and another score. He was the team’s MVP for the 1967 season.
But, most any accomplishments that Johnson achieved in 1967 were over shadowed by the great OJ Simpson at USC and Leroy Keyes at Purdue. They were everybody’s All Americans.
The Wolverines had a rare and disappointing losing season in 1967 finishing 4-6, losing 5 games in a row at one point and even finishing the season with a loss against a bad Ohio State Buckeye team. The grumbling was alive and well in Ann Arbor in 1967.
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A great story coming out of Ann Arbor for the following season was the election of Ron Johnson as a captain for his senior year. No black player had ever been named a captain before at Michigan. It seems crazy now, but this was a big event for a country with such a dark history of racial relations. Schools in the south still didn’t allow African Americans to even play, and a captain was a pretty huge deal.
Ron Johnson’s senior year, the 1968 season, would be another story after losing to the California Golden Bears in their opener in the Big House. The disgruntled fan base continued with their grumbling and would never completely and truly be gruntled even though Michigan then went on an 8 game winning streak.
Our guy, Ron Johnson, would go on a tear and finished the 1968 season with 1,391 and 19 touchdowns, both new Michigan records. He also set a new career rushing record that has been
passed over many times since. He was also the team’s MVP again to win it back to back.
Only one school from the Big 10 was allowed to go to bowl games back in these years and the Michigan Wolverines and their star running back, had to beat their biggest, baddest rivals the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State had been struggling in recent years, but Woody Hayes did something about it and went out and signed the best recruiting class in America and one of the best in the history of their program. Led by quarterback Rex Kern, they became known as the Super Sophomores and they hosted the Wolverines and treated their guests rudely by beating them 50-14.
Ohio State went on to the Rose Bowl where they beat USC and won the national title and the Michigan Wolverines stayed home for the holidays.
Because of Woody Hayes going for 2 on the extra point when they had just hit the 50 point mark, the rivalry went up yet another notch. Michigan was rid of Bump Elliott and they brought in former Ohio State assistant Bo Schembechler and the 10 Year War was on.
With his college playing days over, Ron Johnson was the 20th player picked in the first round of the 1969 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. Johnson held out to get the right contract and then had a really disappointing rookie season. The Browns traded Johnson to the New York Giants after his rookie season and he became the first player in the history of their franchise to top the 1,000 yard rushing barrier in a season. Then, he did it twice, in the 1970 and the 1972 seasons. He did once again play second fiddle to OJ Simpson.
Personally, I remember Ron Johnson more from his playing days with the New York Giants.
Johnson played for the Giants for 6 seasons after his initial season with the Browns. He finished up his career with the Dallas Cowboys, but he never played a down for them in 1976 and then he was out of football.
After football, the Michigan great became a successful businessman. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2008 and he passed away in November of 2018 at the age of 71.
Not a lot of film of Ron Johnson remains, but there is some on Youtube of his special 347 yard game in November of 1968.