Bobby Johnson (wide receiver)

Last updated

Bobby Johnson
No. 88
Position wide receiver
Personal information
Born (1961-12-14) December 14, 1961 (age 63)
East St. Louis, Illinois, U.S.
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
College Kansas
NFL draft 1984: undrafted
Career history
Awards and highlights
Stats at Pro Football Reference   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Bobby Lee Johnson (born December 14, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for three seasons with the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks. [1]

He is best known as the receiver who caught Phil Simms' 4th and 17 pass in Minnesota in week 12 of the 1986 season. It is the play that many football historians feel turned the tide of the Giants championship run. The play set up Raul Allegre's game winning 33-yard field goal. The Giants won the game 22 - 20.

Following the 1986 NFL season, Johnson was traded to the San Diego Chargers. He was routinely late to practice as a result of his blossoming crack cocaine addiction and was subsequently cut two weeks later. In 1989, after years of homelessness and addiction, Johnson sold his Super Bowl XXI ring at a pawn shop in Nashville, TN for $250. Johnson has been clean since 2002. In 2016, Lee Einsidler, a sports fan, led the charge to reunite Johnson with his ring. Enlisting the help of Johnson's former head coach, Bill Parcells, Einsidler was successful in doing so. [2]

References

  1. "Bobby Johnson". NFL. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  2. "NFL 2016 - New York Giants WR Bobby Johnson got his Super Bowl ring back after pawning it for drugs". November 15, 2016.