Best known for his popular column, “The Buck Stops Here,” in “The Chattanooga Times,” “Buck” Johnson has been a lifelong booster of athletics as a participant, coach, and finally as “The Times” sports editor for seventeen years. A keen analyst of the technical side of sports, Johnson won a legion of followers by mixing his insider’s knowledge with an appreciation for the human-interest elements of a story.
Until his retirement as columnist and sports editor in 1996, Johnson reflected his community spirit by frequently using his space in the newspaper to promote worthwhile causes in the Chattanooga area. A part-time sports writer beginning in 1952, Johnson taught and coached in Hamilton County schools from 1949 until 1979.
After an impressive thirty years in which he won twelve Coach-of-the-Year awards in baseball, football, and girls’ basketball, Johnson finally retired from the school system and began a second career as sports editor of “The Times.”
This veteran of World War II Navy service has won numerous awards and honors, highlighted by his election to the Chattanooga and Tennessee sports halls of fame. Many of his columns have received special citations, and he has twice been named as the National AAU Media Man of the Year. Johnson is a member of the Amateur Softball Association’s National Hall of Honor, and he served as chief press officer for the International Softball Federation in the 1996 Olympic Games.