Charles Johnson

Who was Charles Johnson?

Charles "Charlie" Johnson was an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors and the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association. He was an alumnus of Sequoia High School and then scored 1000 points in three years at the University of California, Berkeley.

The San Francisco Warriors drafted Johnson in the 6th round of the 1971 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-0, 170-pound guard played with the Warriors for five seasons and part of a sixth until he was waived in early January 1978.

After his release, Johnson's fortune quickly changed after he was signed by the Washington Bullets in January, 1978, after a season-ending injury to Phil Chenier. Johnson averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a member of the 1977-78 NBA Championship.

Elvin Hayes attributed the Bullets championship run to the acquisition of Johnson. In the last four games of the 1978 NBA finals against the Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson scored 80 points and helped Washington win the series 4 games to 3. The Bullets topped the Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers to reach the championship round.

Johnson died of cancer on June 1, 2007, aged 58.