Johnson Brothers

Robert and Webster Johnson
Blazed a Trail  From Princeton to Madison Square Garden

The fastest brothers in the United States. Twin brothers Robert and Webster Johnson earned that title from the bible of their sport, Track and Field News.

The Johnson brothers caught the eyes of track and field experts when they were still at Princeton High School in East Bossier Parish in 1963, running record times for Coach John Crockett, who fashioned nine state mile relay championship teams in a 10-year span. One story about the duo is that they increased their speed by chasing rabbits near their home in the Princeton community. If they caught any is not documented. Other accomplishments are. As a high school senior, Robert lowered the state record for the quarter mile to 48 seconds flat, and Webster ran a state record 21.5 in the 220.

Running on cinder or dirt tracks, Robert and Webster handled the baton on a quartet that set the school mile relay record at 3:21.2 and the state record in the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association, their league before integration. Even today when schoolboy meets use state-of-the-art all-weather, rubberized tracks, those times are significant. But for Robert and Webster, those times were only a prelude to greatness.

The Johnsons ran for legendary coach Dick Hill at Southern University Baton Rouge where Track and Field News made its pronouncement about the world-class sprinting siblings. As a freshman, Robert was part of a mile relay team that tied the world record mile at 3:04.5. In the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden against the world's best, Robert ran on an indoor world record mile relay team (3:15.0).

In 1964, Webster ran a leg on Southern's winning sprint medley team at the Texas Relays. He set a record (46-flat) in the 440-yard dash at the SWAC championship and was a member of the 440-yard relay team that ran a world record 39.1.

Robert and Webster Johnson are members of the Louisiana Track and Field Hall of Fame.