TRACK & FIELD COACH • 1938-65 | FOOTBALL ASSISTANT COACH • 1937, 1942-56

Leo Johnson served as the head track and field coach at Illinois from 1938-65, winning three NCAA championships in 1944, 1946 and 1947, and 17 Big Ten championships, 10 outdoors and seven indoors. His teams also finished as runners-up at the NCAA meets in 1953 and 1954. He is a member of USTFCCCA Hall of Fame, the Drake Relays Hall of Fame and Millikin University Hall of Fame. Johnson’s athletes captured 27 individual NCAA titles and 158 conference firsts during his 28 years at Illinois. He served as the head coach for the U.S. Pan American track team in 1955. In addition, Johnson worked on the Illini football staff for 16 seasons and was known as an outstanding scout for Bob Zuppke and Ray Eliot. He briefly played football for George Halas’s Decatur Staleys in 1920. Johnson died in 1982 at the age of 87.