John Johnson played high school basketball at Messmer High School, (Milwaukee, Wisconsin). As a senior, he helped lead Messmer to the Wisconsin state title in 1966. Johnson, a 6’7” small forward, then played for Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming and for the University of Iowa. He set an Iowa record for points in a season during his senior year, when he averaged 27.9 points per game. Johnson also holds Iowa’s top two scoring performances with 49 and 46 points. Johnson played two seasons for Iowa, leading the team in scoring and rebounding both seasons. John Johnson was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 7th pick of the 1970 NBA Draft. Johnson was also selected in the 1970 ABA Draft by the Texas Chaparrals. He was the Cavalier’s first player to play in an NBA All Star Game. In 1977, John Johnson was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics and was reunited with former Iowa Hawkeye teammate Fred Brown. Johnson was a key contributor for Seattle, who went to the NBA Finals in 1977–78 and won an NBA championship in 1978–79. Overall, Johnson had a productive twelve-year NBA career with four teams, making two NBA All-Star Game appearances and scoring 11,200 career points. He ended his NBA career in Seattle in the early 1980s. John Johnson moved from Seattle to San Jose when his son Mitch was recruited to play for Stanford. His son played on the Stanford University basketball team from 2005 to 2008.