Samantha and Matthew Johnson, Mary Margaret Januszkiewicz, Michelle and Scott Johnson
Scott Johnson, member of the storied Lake Highlands High School varsity football team which earned the 1981 state championship, has died. He passed away peacefully on January 23 at his Lake Highlands home surrounded by family after a short battle with metastatic melanoma.
The middle child of three, Scott spent his childhood in Lake Highlands roaming outdoors and playing sports. At the University of Texas, he joined Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Texas Cowboys before earning a degree in business in 1986. He married Michelle McFadden, his college sweetheart, and he brought her home to raise a family.
Scott actively supported Mary Margaret and Matthew and their various schools and activities, including Wranglers, student council and athletics. He was first to arrive and last to leave whenever his kids and their friends were participating.
1981 team photo
In 2011, Scott shared memories with then-Advocate writer Christina Hughes Babb to mark the 30th anniversary of the 5A state championship. The opponent was Yates from inner-city Houston, and despite being on their turf in the Astrodome, almost one-third of the crowd of 38,000 was from Lake Highlands.
“Obviously winning state was tremendous,” Johnson said, “but for us it was as much relief as anything. For our class, the history had always been to win; in junior high, the only game LH or FM ever lost was to each other.”
“When we came together as a sophomore team, we went 10-0,” he continued. “The next year we were shattered with some on varsity and some on JV, but together again as seniors we would end up 15-0.”
The team faced plenty of close games over the course of their senior year, but they somehow found a way to dig out the win each week. A dozen or more players went on to play on division one teams, but the Wildcats weren’t the most talented of the bunch, he said.
“We had coaches and players with tremendous heart and character (and characters) that refused to accept defeat and always held together because we believed in each other.”
Scott attributed much of the team’s success to the supportive nature of the community.
“But that’s just Lake Highlands,” he said. “I think that part is just indigenous to this place.”
You may read his account, with details of the big game, here.
Scott’s funeral will be held on Monday, February 2 at 3 p.m. at Highland Park United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations go to the American Cancer Society for melanoma research.
Scott Johnson
