Byron Johnson - A Monarch and A Man
by William Loren Katz - Last Updated (Wednesday, 15 June 2005)
Legacy of a Monarch by Jan Summer, foreword by President Bill Clinton, introduction by Don Baylor (Jadan Publishing, Denver, Colorado, 2005, 172 pages, $15)
Byron Johnson earned a college degree in science, played sparkling shortstop for the famed Kansas City Monarchs, and rode shotgun for his good friend and Monarch's team mate, the legendary Satchel Paige. Though their contributions to our national pastime as major leaguers would have been enormous, Johnson and many early ball-players were not as lucky as Paige and a handful of others from the Black leagues who were young enough to follow Jackie Robinson through the pierced color barrier.
In his Introduction, President Bill Clinton calls Byron Johnson an exceptional and fascinating man who hit the ball out of the park in many areas - on and off the diamond. During the era of segregation when he served on the Kansas City Monarchs, most men in the black major leagues - unlike white major league players - had picked up college degrees before they picked up their league bats. Along with great skills, this meant that they brought a lot more intelligence to decisions made during each nine innings.
In the interest of full disclosure, two years ago during a lecture appearance in Denver, I had the great honor to meet, talk with and learn from pioneer Byron Johnson and his pioneering daughter Jacqueline Benton.
Born in 1911 in Little Rock, Arkansas to the grandson of a slave, Johnson was the last of nine children in a proud, accomplished family. The Johnsons can trace their family history to 1838 when members of the family had been driven to the Indian Territory with the Cherokee Nation among whom they lived. They were among thousands of African Americans and African-Indians swept up in the U.S. government's infamous ethnic cleansing known as "The Trail of Tears."
Some Johnsons stopped and settled in Arkansas where Byron's father was a painter who had the skills and the resources to build his own house. His mother was a teacher who drove a horse and buggy to her job each day. Achievement against adversity was the norm for the Johnsons.
Since the time he was a kid, Byron Johnson wanted to play baseball and, as Don Baylor notes in his Foreword to the book, he was one of the men who not only leveled the playing field for him and today stands as "a testament to the human spirit."
In the summer of 1937 and in his mid-twenties Johnson began his career as shortstop for the Monarchs. He found himself touring the Dominican Republic where the pay was better, but baseball a highly dangerous sport. The country's ruthless dictator, Trujillo, had his troops surround the field during a tense, crucial game against a local team. Satchel Paige saved the day by striking out five of the last six batters to give the Americans a one run victory, and Trujillo's troops marched off peacefully.
Byron's first year with the Monarchs was his best - they won the pennant and the league crown. But his pay was $50 or $60 a month, the food was "baloney, cheese and crackers," and a day's schedule sometimes included two double headers. In this era of Jim Crow and bus travel, it was often hard to find a place to sleep other than the grungy bus. But Johnson reminds us: "We put up with it because we loved the game. There were games we never got paid for, it was the love of the game." Ironically, in special games they faced and earned the admiration of white major league teams!
Johnson was an average hitter but a great bunter who showed outstanding speed on the bases. The best fielding shortstop in his league, he had a strong arm and quick hands . . . and he starred in the East-West All-Star game, the pinnacle of the league's season. His gentle, friendly nature earned him a critical off-the-field assignment - guarding Satchel Paige - who liked to drive fast cars, and spend his money recklessly - mostly from himself.
After Pearl Harbor Johnson at 32 tried to join the US army medical corps - he always hoped to be a doctor - but was blocked by the "color line." Three weeks later he was drafted and served in the quartermaster corps where he volunteered to teach reading to younger soldiers. He bravely turned down his white commander's request that he spy on fellow soldiers. And when his unit landed on Normandy beachhead during the D-Day invasion, they faced combat for the 18 straight days. But in the war against fascist racism Jim Crow still dogged Johnson and other soldiers of color. In liberated France he watched as Nazi prisoners of war were marched in the front door of an Army PX while African American GIs had to use the back door. And he was denied entry to officer training school by a US army that rigidly enforced racial exclusion.
Johnson showed a great interest in science while attending college, and as a teacher used it to impart knowledge to young African Americans. In 1957 Johnson thrust himself into the fierce struggle that erupted when a US court ordered the admission of nine Black students, including Carlotta Walls, a close relative, to Central High School in Little Rock. Governor Orval Faubus thundered about the values of segregation, menacing white mobs gathered, Black homes were bombed, and troops of the 101st Airborne Division had to escort the nine students to the school and in guard them in the hallways. Johnson stepped forward to help tutor the nine in biology, and assisted in the dangers of their transportation. His daughter, Jackie Benton, remembered difficult days: "We'd have to drive through rioters. They'd stand in the way and then start rocking the car back and forth. It was terrifying."
When Carlotta's house was bombed J. Edgar Hoover's FBI arrested her father for the crime. This was typical of the FBI approach to white violence. Later the KKK admitted it was responsible for the bombing. Miraculously Carlotta managed to become one of two of the nine students who survived the racist assaults at Central high school, and made it to graduation.
Johnson came from a loving family and produced one himself. This book is his and his family's combined effort to recapture an exciting life and times, with particularly generous help from Jacquelyn Benton, Byron's devoted daughter and remaining child. The most moving parts are the articulate recollections of Byron and family members about baseball, race, and Denver.
Byron Johnson threw his skills and daring into many contests - as a shortstop for the Monarchs, as a protector of Satchel Paige, as soldier, and as a courageous citizen determined to see democracy work in peacetime.
William Loren Katz is the author of BLACK INDIANS: A HIDDEN HERITAGE and his website is WILLIAMLKATZ.COM
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