Keep a close eye on Charles S. “CJ” Johnson. CU’s most famous backup quarterback is running hard for the CU Board of Regents.
To get on the general ballot field, Johnson must prevail in a Democratic primary over formidable competition. The winning Democratic nominee will lead the statewide ticket in this critical November election. No other statewide offices are at play.
On Oct. 6, 1990, Johnson authored CU football history in Columbia, Missouri. This average-sized athlete barely scored as time expired, by lunging backwards, after he almost seemed stopped. Johnson defied gravity just long enough, scoring the infamous walk-off fifth-down touchdown.
That CU Buffs’ victory, which Johnson started and finished, remains eternally controversial. Johnson, unaware of any dispute at the time, used every ounce of skill and determination on that final drive. With Colorado trailing 31-27 and 2:24 remaining, he led the Buffaloes on its 15-play, 88-yard comeback rally.
Johnson performed an even more impressive rescue as 1991 Orange Bowl MVP. After Darian Hagan departed with a damaged knee, Johnson delivered a masterpiece. He completed 5-of-6 passes for 80 yards, including clutch plays leading to the winning touchdown, and Colorado’s only national football championship.
After that glorious championship season, Johnson served as a CU student leader, earned advanced degrees, and worked as CU’s associate athletic director. For decades, Johnson hosted award-winning radio, and some television, too.
More recently, Johnson has been a Fortune 500 executive, as proud Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Ball Corporation.
Johnson and other African-American leaders battle misperceptions about diversity and opportunity in the corporate world. “Privilege isn’t something that’s easily conceded,” he told me. “Power is not something that you just give away.”
According to Johnson, America’s “original sin” of racism still holds us back as evident by American bigotries now boiling to the surface. “Our democracy is not sustainable if we don’t come to grips with this challenge,” he warns.
But he remains hopeful, having seen the fruits of a mindset focused on growing the pie, rather than a “zero-sum game where if you win, that automatically means I lose.”
Now Johnson wants to join the CU Board of Regents as its at-large member, excited by the chance to represent the entire state. The statewide-elected regent-at-large is the presumptively most powerful regent on the nine-member board. Heidi Ganahl went from CU regent-at-large to GOP gubernatorial nominee in 2022.
Johnson may ascend to higher office, but there can be no doubt his passion is in higher education. The longtime Democrat told me wants to help “hardworking, middle-class, working-class, and in some cases poor people who are just looking for lanes, opportunities to make up a better way for themselves and their families.”
Growing up, neither of Johnson’s parents had a high school diploma, having migrated from the segregated South to Detroit. Today, Johnson’s two children have earned Ivy League degrees.
“This story is possible because of the access that I had to an education at the University of Colorado,” he said. “It completely changed my life. It completely changed the trajectory of my family’s life.”
Johnson wants to ensure the CU system serves “the everyday common folk, taxpayers in the state of Colorado” — not just the privileged or the rich.
“It has to, in order for it to be sustainable or viable,” he insists. As a regent, Johnson says he’ll fight to preserve CU’s role as the state’s flagship institution, providing life-changing opportunities for all on its many campuses.
Soon after winning the national title, Colorado Buffaloes football Coach Bill McCartney infamously referred to homosexuality as an “abomination.”
Centennial State voters then approved Colorado’s ill-advised 1992 Amendment Two, which banned anti-discrimination laws giving protected legal status to gays, lesbians or bisexuals, and earned Colorado a label as the “Hate State.”
Johnson is a proud Christian who hails from a famous church family. He has debated Christianity many times with his devout Christian head coach.
Johnson told me last week Coach Mac was “probably one of the most misunderstood human beings in the world.”
Johnson long ago confronted his former coach about his hurtful anti-gay rhetoric, asking him, “Coach, do you realize that we probably had some teammates in that locker room who may have been gay?”
McCartney was “flabbergasted,” as Johnson recalled, insisting he’d have laid his life down for all those players just as he would for Johnson.
The former quarterback pressed on, challenging McCartney to understand “the ramifications of those words” and how they impacted his teams. It may have been a “light bulb moment” for Johnson’s former coach. McCartney retracted his hurtful words in 2010 as he unsuccessfully sought to be rehired as CU’s head coach.
The bond between Johnson and his old college coach has never been broken. After the Orange Bowl victory and national title, McCartney told the world, “You’ve got to give Charles a lot of credit. He went out there and did a super job. He’s done it before and we knew he could do it this time.”
The now-tragically Alzheimers-afflicted McCartney still gets loving visits from his favorite backup QB. As Johnson runs in the CU regents race, you can bet he’ll be bringing that same poise, strength and determination that made him a Colorado football legend.
Johnson knows how to seize the moment, whether it’s on the gridiron or in the political arena. Keep an eye on CJ Johnson. He just might lead Colorado to incredible new heights. He’s done it before.
Craig Silverman is a former Denver chief deputy DA. Craig is columnist at large for The Colorado Sun and an active Colorado trial lawyer with Craig Silverman Law, LLC.
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