Can a University of Tennessee alumnus become an SEC football and basketball official and remain impartial to his alma mater? Harold Franklin Johnson did just that, and although his blood runs deep orange, his officiating was impeccable and impartial during his thirty-three years officiating Southeastern Conference football games and twenty years calling SEC basketball games. Originally an athlete himself, Johnson was all-state and All-Southern in football and all-state in basketball while in high school at Jackson, Tennessee. He entered UT as a top prospect in 1949, but a knee injury his freshman year relegated him to holding for extra points and field goals under the tutelage of the legendary General Robert Neyland. It was Neyland’s influence which led Johnson to his officiating career. As a basketball official, Johnson worked the NCAA national championships and tournaments. As a football official, he worked all the major bowls, including the Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Gator, Liberty, Bluebonnet, and Sun bowls. In his long and distinguished officiating career, Johnson served as president of both the SEC Football Officials Association and the SEC Basketball Officials Association, as well as president of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. An established attorney in Jackson, Johnson now spends football Saturdays in the UT stands, where his blood remains a deep shade of orange.
