Growing up in West Oakland, CA presents a lot of opportunity for young African American males. Opportunities such as--attachment to gangs and the violence associated with it, pimping and pandering, involvement with drugs, or meeting and building a relationship with law officials. We are not talking about a buddy/buddy type relationship; it is more like the Duke Boys vs. Boss Hog and Roscoe P. Coltrane relationship. So what can you do if you don’t want to continue in this cycle? Well for Smart Guy Josh Johnson, he made the conscious decision to devote and focuse his time and energy to other avenues. He did not let the pressure from his peers or his environments deter what he wanted to do with his life. He acted on some of the less known opportunities that Oakland had to offer but rarely gets recognition for providing. Josh concentrated heavily on his family, school and sports to escape the negativity that surrounded him. As Johnson grew up he knew that he did not want to be like everyone else, he wanted to be different. He not only wanted to be a success on the football field, basketball court or track but he also wanted to succeed in the classroom and in life.
“I have always wanted to be a well-rounded person, to be a successful athlete as well as a successful student; I wanted to create different avenues for myself.” Johnson said. “As I was growing up, I would rather go to practice instead of hanging out. I would rather do my school work or stay in the house. Most of that stuff that was out there in the streets really didn’t mean anything. It was just something there for everybody to do but I didn’t want to do that.” Johnson admits that growing up in the inner city can present a lot of barriers and challenges, simply because in that environment bad things that happens on a somewhat daily basis. But Josh also recognized that there were positive things that can come out of those situations as well. “You can learn a lot of good values,” Johnson continued. “When you come from humble beginning you have many struggles. But when you struggle you get to find out more about the character of the people around you and also about yourself. You develop the will to fight, a trait that will carry you through a lot of other challenges on the road to becoming an adult.”
Many people have struggled with separation, the ability to be able to separate themselves from what they are used to and friends that they are used to being with who may not be on a positive path. Those things can truly affect your life in a negative way. Josh advises youth that may be struggling with this separation to have courage. If the people who you call your friends see the change in you then, it could help them to make a change in themselves as well. Don’t be afraid to be a leader; don’t be afraid to be the first one to break out of the norm. “One of the biggest challenges that you will face is being able to separate yourself from the negative things.” Johnson said. “The negative things are out there and they are easy to do. That is why everyone is doing it, because it is so easy. Not everyone wants to get involved with the harder things, due to all the work that has to be put in to becoming successful at it. That is just the world that we live in. I encourage young people to stay on the right path, that Smart Guy path. It is the right thing to do although it may be more difficult than the negative things. Look beyond the little things that you can get with the fast money because that will not last long. From my experiences the harder that I worked at something, the more I was able to benefit from it. You have to create that mentality for yourself because that winning/ hard working mentality will get you a long way.”
Josh’s mom Rosemary was a very big influence on his life and the decisions that he made. Rosemary was a single mother with four children who worked hard to provide for her family and limit some of the struggles that families had. “My mother did a great job with us,” Johnson said. “As a single parent with four children, she did everything she could to make sure we didn’t have to struggle. That let me know that there was no excuse for me not to do the right thing.”As for the much needed male guidance that young males search for, Johnson found it in his uncles and coaches he had while playing youth and in high school sports. “My uncles were like a father figures for me,” Johnson recalled. “He showed me a lot of things from a male’s perspective. My high school coach did the same for me in the athletic realm. He did a lot for my teammates and I. I was able to learn a lot from him.”
Johnson views himself as a Smart Guy for overcoming the temptations that the streets of Oakland presented him. Josh is a graduate of Oakland Tech High School where he earned first team All City honors at quarterback and led his team to the Oakland Athletic League Championship. He is two classes away from graduating from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor degree in Mass Communications and where he was a four time All Conference (Pioneer Football League) (2004-07), twice earning PFL Offensive Player of the Year (2005-06), he was a four time I-AA All American (2004-07), and was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award-given to the best player in division I-AA football (2007). Johnson is currently the backup quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a co-founder of Fam 1st Family Foundation with cousin Marshawn Lynch.
Johnson and Lynch created this 501c3 non-profit foundation to give back to the young kids of Oakland. For the past four years the guys has hosted a free football camp for kids ages 6-18, at their alma mater Oakland Tech. To expand the Fam 1st Family Foundation they incorporated the first annual Family 1st bowling night last fall and have a family oriented weekend planned from July 8-9, 2011. The festivities will start Friday night July 8 from 6-9:00pm with the 1st Family bowling and continue Saturday, July 9, with their annual football camp. The foundation also sponsors turkey drives during Thanksgiving and toy drives during Christmas. One of the major goals for the foundation is developing a youth center for the kids, a project that is in the planning stages now.
A Family Smart Guy,
Josh
To find out more about Josh Johnson go to http://www.joshjohnson11.com/ . For more information regarding the Fam 1st Family Foundations contact Joanna Lopez at jvlopez13@gmail.com.
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