One of the people I admire most is my grandpa, (Pawpaw) Robert Ernest Johnson. Pawpaw is fifty-nine and a wonderful roll model. He was married to an amazing woman, my grandma (Nana) Sandra Lee Fields Johnson, but she passed away a few years ago. I could get carried away about her, too, but this is about my Pawpaw. My Pawpaw has done many astonishing things. I would love to share them with you.
When my Pawpaw was in High School, he played basketball and baseball. In basketball he played power forward, guard, and jumped to center at jump ball. He told me that he was able to out jump all the they guys and had the ability to dunk. His hands were so small though, and he couldn’t hold onto a regular basketball, but he was able to dunk with volleyballs and things of that size. He could out rebound anybody and has really became a legend in his hometown of Cumberland, Tennessee.
In baseball he could play any position, but pitcher. His favorite, and best was catcher. Pawpaw’s coach could put him in anywhere because he knew my Pawpaw was capable of playing any position and do well. In the summer of 1967, my Pawpaw was 17. He worked for a company called Cumberland Case, as a welder. A scout was coming to see him play baseball, from the Philadelphia Phillies. My Pawpaw had been changed from working day shift to second shift. When the scout came, he missed him because of his job. The scout took this other boy that was next in line in stats. Pawpaw stayed with that job for two weeks and then quit. The boy who went to play with Phillies, also quit after two weeks. When he came back he said that it was too hard for him and that he couldn’t do it. Looking back now, my Pawpaw wishes so badly that he could have taken that opportunity because it was a once in a lifetime thing for him. If he would have gotten to do it, things wouldn’t be how they are now, with a loving family and wonderful friends. He would never change that for anything. Things happen for a reason and God saw that baseball wasn’t the right path for him.
When Pawpaw was 23 he became Deputy Sheriff of Cherokee County, Georgia. He stayed there for almost five years. He was the one who reloaded everyone’s guns with ammo so they could work on target practice. Nobody out shot him either. There is this trick shot he told me about that he was only able to do twice. It is where you stack two bottles on top of each other, you shoot the one on bottom and have to shoot the one on top before it hits the ground. The first time he tried it he was able to do it, but after that it took him nearly 25 more tries until he did it again. All the boys when he was younger, carried around their rifles with them in their cars. They weren’t going to hurt anybody but just have fun. Pawpaw told me that he and his friends would get their 22's, get old things like Coke cans and pieces of stuff, throw it up, and just shoot for the fun of it with each other. He told me that he was good, real good, but not as good as his daddy.
My Pawpaw has always been here for me. My sister and I use to practically live at his house with him and my Nana. We would always go swimming or stay up late watching movies. I’ll never forget how I used to play Mario Bro’s with my Nana in their bed and end up falling asleep on his side of the bed. I would barely wake up in the middle of the night when he would carry me to my bed, and if I couldn’t go back to sleep he would tickle my back with his fingernails until I back to sleep. When we used to go fishing late at night, all of us, in his boat, I would end up falling asleep in the boat and then get up, get in the ‘Burp (family name for car) and fall back asleep. He would do the same again at times like that. End up carrying me to my bed without me barely knowing, and the things like that are what I miss most. My sister and I used to pretend that he was the tickle monster and hide from him, then jump on top of him by surprise. All those fun times still feel like yesterday. I love my Pawpaw and he is a wonderful man.
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