As an eighth-grader, he bent to pick up a basketball in a P.E. class in Bossier City, La.
“I wanted to play with it,” Gary Johnson remembered, “and the instructor, Raley Stewart, said, 'Get your big hands off my basketball.' ”
Gary Johnson
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The words “Big Hands” stuck. From that moment, they would represent a reference to the player who would make it his practice to place his hands on rival quarterbacks through a decade on the defensive line of the Chargers.
Yes, his hands are big. “I can't put my hands on a counter without people saying, 'You've got big hands,' ” Johnson said from his home in Horton, La.
Tomorrow, during the 61st Viejas Salute to Champions dinner at the Town and Country Resort, Johnson is to be received into the Breitbard Hall of Fame. “It's home,” he said. “I'm a San Diegan at heart. I still follow the Chargers.”
Once, Johnson, Louie Kelcher and Fred Dean made up three-fourths of the defensive front that helped the San Diego club claim three AFC West championships during Johnson's time with the team and advance to the playoffs a fourth time (in 1982) as a wild-card entry. The Johnson-Kelcher-Dean troika came to San Diego together in a 1975 draft cobbled together by Tommy Prothro that was as rewarding as any draft the franchise has conducted, or arguably any franchise has conducted.
Coincidentally, Johnson, Kelcher and Dean all would conclude their careers with the San Francisco 49ers. Johnson was dealt to the Niners a month into the 1984 season for fifth-and 11th-round draft choices in 1986.
“It was a little strange,” Johnson said, “but I ended up with people I loved and trusted.” He cited Kelcher and Dean.
They had a rapport, those three. “We fed off each other,” Johnson said. “When one of us would make a play, the others would want to make a play, too.”
Before the 1975 draft, Prothro, now deceased, had chosen a base in Palo Alto, where the scouting service with which the Chargers then were associated, Quadra, had its offices. The Chargers had an abundance of selections and Prothro, who had a genius for anything involved with numbers, would make good use of his two firsts, two seconds, two thirds, two fourths, two fifths and two sixths.
Prothro began by identifying Johnson, from Grambling, with his first choice in the opening round. He reached for Kelcher, from SMU, and Dean, from Louisiana Tech, in the second round.
As a rookie, the 6-foot-2, 253-pound Johnson was not as effective as he would become. “We played a hit-and-read defense in my first year under Prothro, and that wasn't effective for me,” he said. “You've got to get off on 'em. In order to be effective, you've got to attack the offense. You've got to make 'em block you.”
Beginning in 1976, the Chargers' defensive line coach was Jerry Smith. “He never stopped teaching,” Johnson said. Smith's approach fit with Johnson's. The man known as “Big Hands” established a Chargers record for sacks with 17½ in 1980. His 67 career sacks is second in franchise history.
What makes his total extraordinary is that he was a defensive tackle who often had to beat an offensive lineman and then get past a fullback to reach the quarterback. With his quickness, he could do it. It had to help him that on the same front with him were Kelcher, who seldom took a false step in policing up screens and draws, and on the edge the greatly gifted Dean, mounting his rushes.
Johnson was named to four consecutive Pro Bowls and was a starter in three (1981-83). One year, Johnson, Kelcher and Dean started for the AFC.
Kelcher is in the Breitbard Hall. Dean is not, though last week he was among the 17 finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and made it to the final 11 in voting by the board of selectors.
“He is a Hall of Famer,” Johnson declared. “One of these years,” he added, “I hope they call my name.”
His football career concluding, Johnson, 54, remained in San Diego until a son, Gary Jr., now 29, had graduated from Scripps Ranch High. Through this period, Johnson operated two ice cream shops with his wife, Alice. The Johnsons also have a daughter, Morgan, 19, a student at LSU.
“Big Hands” currently is extending his hands as an executive greeter at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City.
“But I don't just stand out in front and greet people,” he said. “It's a stressful job.” He said his responsibilities include making sure guests of the casino are properly treated.
Johnson said he continues to see Kelcher when he comes to San Diego for Junior Seau's golf tournament. “I go up to see the guys,” Johnson said. “Such wonderful guys. I learned so much.”
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
