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Hastings High Hall of Fame
Hastings High Hall of Fame
Inducted 2015
Inducted 2015
Johnny Hopp, Class of 1935, was selected for the HHS Athletic Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2015.
Hopp was a stand-out on the Tiger football and basketball teams. As a junior he played on the state basketball finalists who were edged by Columbus, 14-12. As a senior he was a top scorer as the Tigers swept to the Mid State championship and again qualified for the state tournament.
Honored in track as a junior and senior by University of Nebraska coaching staff with the "Full Blue Numeral", a designation as one of the state's best athletes, he placed at the state track meet in both the 100 and 220 as a senior.
On the football field Hopp started at halfback as a senior at 5'6" and 134 pounds. Against a top-ten Crete squad, Hopp took a punt back 92-yards from the winning score. That return still stands as a school record. Hastings claimed the Mid State championship with that win. The 1934 Tigers just missed a state title, losing only once, to Grand Island, 12-7, in a game where GI only had 72 yards total offense but converted to blocked punts into touchdowns.
Johnny was a top student in the classroom and active in student government. He was elected class president as a senior.
Despite all those successes, Hopp always shone brightest on the summer baseball diamonds. The Hastings American Legion junior team was formed when he was in high school, in no small part because of his play, no doubt. After spending a year playing football at Hastings College he started up the ladder of minor league baseball.
It didn't take long. By 1939 he was in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals, and by 1941 he was leading the National League in hitting in August.
Hopp would go on to play professionally for fourteen major league seasons. Four times he finished in the top twenty of League MVP voting. He played on four World Series Champions with the St. Louis Cardinals (1942 & 1944) and New York Yankees (1950 & 1951). He was an All-Star in 1946.
Johnny is the second oldest of the Hastings Hopp Family sports dynasty. Older brother Albert was an all-state football and basketball player. Next in line Harry, matched those feats, started for Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, and played NFL football for the Detroit Lions. The fourth brother Wally quarterbacked the Tigers to the 1940 state football championship and played at Nebraska. Youngest bother Cliff was all-state football and baseball, and played college football at Georgia and Nebraska. [Johnny and Harry pictured during their pro careers]
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