Brad Johnson

Johnson was just that at Black Mountain's Charles D. Owen High School, which he led to the North Carolina state basketball semifinals and football quarterfinals as a senior. In addition to being a star athlete, he was senior class president and voted best all-around male among the class of 1987. The Vikings picked Johnson in the ninth round (227th overall) of the 1992 NFL draft, the last draft to go nine rounds. But with scant college experience, he was passed over twice in Minnesota when starters got injured. Desperate for playing time, he went to the NFL's fledgling World League of American Football in 1995. In time, he became a starter for the Vikings, got them to the playoffs in 1997 and helped them in 1998--only to lose his job to Randall Cunningham, who filled in brilliantly after Johnson's season was stalled, first by a broken leg and later by a broken thumb.