Fred Johnston

 

Fred Johnston played four games for the 1924 Brooklyn Robins. I’m not sure that Fred was actually how he was most frequently known—he was also known as Wilfred, Ivey, Ivy, Red, and Johnny.

Wilfred Ivey Johnston was born July 9, probably in 1898, in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Zeb and Rosa Johnston. In the 1900 census the Johnstons are living at 207 N Caldwell Street in Charlotte; Zeb is listed as a broker and as 32 years old, Rosa is 25, older brother Lindsay is four and Wilfred is one. In the 1910 census the family is living in Pineville, south of Charlotte; Zeb is a general merchant, the boys are 14 and 11, and little sister Eileen, eight, has been added.

In 1918 Fred graduated from Fishburne Military Academy in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he starred in baseball and football. On September 12, 1918, he filled out his draft card, which showed him as a student at the University of Virginia, his permanent address as Pineville, and his appearance as medium height, medium build, blue eyes, and light hair. Just a couple of weeks later, on October 1, he entered the Army; apparently he hadn’t played any football at Virginia before that, as he had four more years of eligibility. The war ended on November 11, and Fred was discharged on December 10. I can’t say for sure that he went back to UV.

In the fall of 1919 Fred played football for Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, and he may have played baseball there the following spring. The 1920 census showed the Johnston family at 1573 South Boulevard in Charlotte, with Zeb the vice president and treasurer of a tractor company and Lindsay no longer living at home. In the fall of 1920 Fred followed former Davidson football coach Bill Fetzer to North Carolina State, and the following year he transferred to the University of North Carolina when Fetzer did the same. A halfback, he had 265 rushing yards and 353 total yards in a 1921 game against VMI. He was best known for football in college but in the spring of 1922 he was the right fielder for the UNC baseball team.

1922 was a big year for the Tar Heel football team and for Fred in particular. They opened with a 62-3 win over Wake Forest, then traveled to Connecticut to play Yale. Lawrence Perry, in his syndicated “For the Game’s Sake” column for October 4, wrote: “Yale is likely to have a lot of trouble handling so meteoric a performer as ‘Red’ Johnston, who is today one of the most elusive young men in the world once he gets loose.” The Boston Globe reported on the 8^th:

Yale met a tough customer in the University of North Carolina this afternoon and did well to beat the Tarheels, 18 to 0…The Southerners came here with a strong team considering every angle of the game, and in the person of Red Johnston presented one of the best halfbacks seen in the Bowl since it was opened in 1914. Johnston’s end running, line bucking and open field work kept Yale on the jump all the time, and when he was taken out in the final quarter with hardly strength enough to hobble to the sidelines Yale breathed easier.

That was the Tar Heels’ only loss of the season as Fred led them to a 9-1 record; along the way his highlights included a 78 yard touchdown run against Maryland, and a 60 yard fumble return and a 30 yard touchdown reception in the final game against Virginia.

In January 1923 Dr. Foy Johnson, a Durham surgeon, was accused of paying Fred $100 a month to play football for UNC. From a January 29 AP story:

“I have never done anything financially for Johnston, in any way, shape, form or fashion. I have, however, admired him for the manly way in which he has conducted himself in the face of so much unpleasant notoriety,” Dr. Roberson emphatically states. Dr. Roberson admits that he gave Johnston professional attention when an inmate of Watts hospital here free of charge, but this has always been done by him for any of the university students, he said.

A story in the next day’s Greensboro Daily News bore the following headlines:

DR. ROBERSON DEMANDS PROOF OF THE CHARGES

Durham Physician Makes a Lengthy Statement Denying He Paid Johnston.

PRODUCE OR KEEP QUIET

The article reproduced the text of a signed statement sent by Dr. Roberson to another newspaper, which included the following:

…A great howl went up when he first entered the university after having attended Davidson and A. and E. previously. This, I think, was more or less natural, as when a star athlete goes from one institution to another it usually creates much comment. However, the fact remains that Mr. Johnston was acting entirely within his rights and within the rules. It has been established that he complied with all requirements, that he has made a satisfactory record in his studies, and that he had comported himself like a gentleman. Yet there had been an almost continuous stream of criticism of one kind or another directed toward Mr. Johnston ever since…

As to Johnston’s finances, I know he had a hard time getting enough funds to pay his way at the university. He certainly did not act like a student who had $100 a month to spend, but rather like one who had $100 a year…

I didn’t find any subsequent coverage of this issue, so apparently nothing came of it. In March it was reported that Fred had signed a baseball contract with St. Petersburg of the Class C Florida State League, after previous reports had had him signing with various other teams and leagues. He hit .264 in 405 at-bats, with 28 doubles, seven triples and four homers, playing a variety of positions, mostly second base, first base and outfield. In July it was announced that “Wilfred I. (‘Red’) Johnston, most famous and sensational back produced on the North Carolina gridiron for many college generations, has been signed to aid in coaching the Carolina freshmen football team this fall.” Then in September it was announced that he had been purchased by the Brooklyn Robins, to report in spring 1924. A November 11 story by James J. Murphy in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, under the headline “Uncle Robbie Has Landed Many Promising Recruits For Superbas Next Year,” read in part:

Wilfred Ivey (Red) Johnston, a second baseman bought from the St. Petersburg club of the Florida State League, may also assist in rounding out a well balanced infield, but Robbie is inclined to think that he will need another season in the minors to acquire more experience…

Johnston got his first taste of professional ball last spring with St. Petersburg. He was tried in every position on the infield and had his trial in the outfield when it was finally discovered that his natural post was second base. His batting and fielding were nothing to brag about, but he was picked up by Brooklyn scouts because he looked the part of a real player who will develop with more experience.

On March 7, 1924, a wire service story reported that “Ivy ‘Red Top’ Johnston is the second Brooklyn infielder to be injured this season at Clearwater, Fla.” On April 5 the Bridgeport Telegram named Ivy Johnston as one of three players that had been left at Clearwater by the Robins until they could be placed with a minor league team, and on April 11 the Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle reported that “Ivy Johnston has been sent to his home at Charlotte, N.C., pending his assignment to some minor league club.” His assignment was back to St. Petersburg, where he played second base until he was recalled by the Robins, to whom he reported on June 23.

Ivy/Fred made his major league debut on June 29 at home against the Phillies, coming in at second base after Zack Wheat pinch-hit for second baseman Joe Klugman in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game. Fred had two assists and an error as the Phillies scored three runs in the top of the tenth, then was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the inning as the Robins scored four to win. His next appearance was not until July 17 at Cincinnati, when he pinch-hit for pitcher Art Decatur with two out in the ninth and a runner on first, down 10-8, but his at-bat and the game ended when the runner was caught stealing.

Then Fred sat until August 6, at home against the Pirates, when he got his only major league start. He played third base and batted sixth, going 1-for-4 with a run, a strikeout, and one putout in the field as Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance defeated Arnie Stone, 5-3. On August 10 he completed his major league career at home against the Cardinals by pinch-running for Hank DeBerry at first base in the fifth and being thrown out at third on a single to center.

Fred seems not to have returned to his football coaching job that fall. For 1925 Brooklyn optioned him to Springfield of the Class A Eastern League. He played third base for them through most of the exhibition season, but on April 18 was sent to Waterbury of the same league, as reported in the next day’s Springfield Republican:

“RED” JOHNSTON IS TRANSFERRED TO WATERBURY CLUB

Bernard to Play Third Base—Best and Dolan Here, and With Becker Work Out

Gene McCann has settled on the makeup of his infield and as a result Infielder W. I. “Red” Johnston has been turned over to the Waterbury club and will join that outfit today or tomorrow…

Johnston is the property of the Brooklyn Nationals and has been the only optional agreement ball player on the Springfield squad. Brooklyn yesterday sent word that it had granted permission for the transfer of Johnston to Waterbury, which club takes over the optional agreement understanding. Johnston didn’t look the part in his period with the Hampdens, though he was given every opportunity and played in all the exhibition games until yesterday’s…

For Waterbury Red/Fred played second base for a few weeks; then, as the Sporting News reported on May 14:

Waterbury has released Infielder Red Johnson [sic] and Catcher Lester Patterson. Johnson was with the Brasscos on option from Brooklyn of the National League. When Brooklyn learned that he was to be returned, the National League club made him a free agent.

This seems to have ended Fred’s baseball career. He returned to Florida, where he married Harriet Holmes Endicott in St. Petersburg on October 27, 1926. Their son James was born November 21, 1927, in St. Petersburg, though Fred (as Wilfred) and Harriet appear in the 1927 Charlotte city directory at 502 Selwyn Avenue, Wilfred being listed as a salesman for the Republic Truck Sales Corporation. They appear in the 1928 and 1930 directories at the same address (and around that period daughter Jacqueline was born), then they’re back in Florida and in Jacksonville’s 1932-33 directory, where they’re at 4635 Hercules Avenue and Wilfred is a salesman for Claude Nolan, Inc.

Soon after that came a divorce, with Wilfred on his own in the 1934 Greensboro NC directory at 103 Lake Drive and Harriet and the kids back in St. Petersburg. By October 1936 “Red” had moved to New Orleans; he got mentioned in the New Orleans papers that month with the Tar Heels coming to town to play Tulane. From the October 23 New Orleans Times-Picayune:

“Red” Johnston, who was the outstanding backfield star for the Tarheels when they defeated Tulane 19-12 here in 1922, the last time the two teams met, will be among the Tarheel contingent welcoming the invaders. Mr. Johnston is now in business in New Orleans. He and Mrs. Johnston live on Metairie Road.

If there was in fact a Mrs. Johnston at this time I don’t know who she was. In 1937 Red was named to the all-time Tar Heel football team. The 1940 census found him alone in an apartment (though identified as married) at 1527 Antonine Street in New Orleans, which was listed as having been his residence in 1935 as well. He had worked 55 hours the previous week as a traveling salesman, at which job he had earned $2400 in 1939. Harriet and the kids were in Tallahassee; she was identified as widowed.

In 1942 “Winifred ‘Red’ Johnston” got newspaper mentions again as UNC came to play Tulane one more time. In 1949 he was again named to the all-time Tar Heel football team, as well as to a North Carolina all-time state team. At some point he married Rebecca Louise Wiley Dunn, originally from Texas, whose husband Peter Dunn had passed away in 1946. On August 24, 1950, Wilfred I. Johnston’s name appeared in the New Orleans States in a list of suits filed in First City Court: “Neiman Marcus Co. vs. Wilfred I. Johnston, claim. $121.63.”

On September 24, 1951, the caption on a photo of Rebecca and her mother in the San Antonio Light said that Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Johnston were newcomers from New Orleans. They appear in the 1952 San Antonio city directory at 211 Thorain Boulevard, Wilfred’s business given as Johnston & O’Leary Motor Co.

That’s the last I found of Wilfred until he died on May 15, 1959, probably age 60, at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas. Rebecca was the informant, and their address was 627 S. Fannin in Tyler. Wilfred’s usual occupation was given as “real estate business,” and the cause of death was myocardial infarction. Strangely, given his football stardom, I found no obituaries.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/J/Pjohnf104.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnsfr02.shtml