I covered Calvin Johnson for his entire career with the Detroit Lions and got to know him as a football player and as a person on the field and off it.
On Sunday night, Johnson was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Canton, Ohio. As I look back on his career, here are my favorite 81 moments and memories of him in honor of the number he wore.
1. Al Davis always comes to mind. The late Raiders owner loved fast receivers but somehow passed on Calvin to draft JaMarcus Russell first overall. Thanks, Al.
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2. Roy Williams was inspired by the first “Transformers” movie in 2009 and gave his fellow receivers nicknames based on characters and super heroes. He was Optimus Prime, Mike Furrey was Batman, Shaun McDonald was Spider-Man. And a promising rookie named Calvin Johnson was Megatron. I thought it was just typical Williams joviality and never thought any of the nicknames would stick.
3. A couple years after that, Calvin started wearing a Megatron-logo baseball cap during postgame interviews. It was one of the early rare instances of Calvin embracing his playful side.
4. After a victory, Williams would do a funny dance in the locker room that looked like a cross between bullfighting and flamenco. The Lions once posted a video of it. I remember Calvin standing nearby and exploding with laughter. I wished we could have seen him that happy more often.
5. Nate Burleson was Calvin’s closest teammate and helped bring Calvin out of his shell.
6. When Burleson returned for a charity softball game in Detroit a few months after he was cut, it was touching to see them hug and how much they missed each other.
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7. Toward the end of his career, Calvin’s body was breaking down and he looked miserable as he walked to his locker very slowly after a cold tub or therapy. It’s not all glory.
8. His massive hands that would engulf mine whenever we shook.
9. How he idolized Ken Griffey Jr. and he really dreamed of being a baseball player.
10. Jim Schwartz told us he struggled to get Calvin to back off and not dive for every ball in practice. That constant effort helped make Calvin great but also cost him longevity.
11. We both liked playing EA’s FIFA soccer game more than “Madden.”
12. We were comparing our favorite FIFA teams and I told him mine was Borussia Dortmund. “Say again?” he said. “Borussia Dortmund,” I said more slowly. “Say again?” he said. “Borussia Dortmund,” I said verrry slowwwly. He still didn’t understand what I was saying. I think I told him to just look for the black-and-yellow team in the Bundesliga.
13. Calvin was famously quiet early in his career. He barely looked up or turned away from whatever he was futzing with in his locker when he gave interviews.
14. Around this time, I was waiting to interview a coach at the indoor practice facility when Calvin walked in early before his press conference. He sat down and began unlacing his shoes. He looked over, gave a head nod and a little smile for the first time.
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15. In 2013, Calvin told me the reason why he was so taciturn with reporters. He felt burned by a reporter taking his quotes out of context when he was at Georgia Tech. As a naturally private person, he had an even harder time trusting reporters after that.
16. In 2014, I covered the high school camp Calvin hosted for his foundation at Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse High School. It was his first camp I covered. I thought there would be a swarm of publicity people. It was just his family. His sister checked me in. And Calvin set up all the cones on the field by himself.
17. Calvin is a natural coach. The way he taught the kids and connected with them was impressive.
18. But Calvin will never be an NFL coach. He’s said repeatedly the job demands too much time. Matthew Stafford has said the same thing. The NFL should think about the unhealthy balance and workaholic nature of coaching jobs that discourage some of its most talented players.
19. The “spare me” look on Calvin’s face when Stafford, as a rookie, looked like he was lecturing him on the sidelines during a loss at Seattle in 2009.
20. All the wonderful seasons and successes between Calvin and Stafford that followed.
21. THE
22. PROCESS
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25. CATCH
26. I can’t even hear that phrase anymore without getting angry over the stupidity of this call in the 2010 season opener.
27. That rule, which took way too long to change, didn’t have anything to do with Calvin. It was a function of the over-legislated rulebook that ignores common sense and enforces rules by tinhorn functionaries.
28. But the Football Gods would never victimize Calvin with a bad call again, right?
29. After all those years of the high draft picks Matt Millen wasted on receivers, Calvin finally let us change the narrative and celebrate a rare success for the Lions.
30. Those dunk celebrations.
31. And the way the NFL stupidly outlawed them because they decided it would be smart to prevent players from having fun and using goal posts or anything else as a prop.
32. And the way Calvin held firm and said he would keep dunking anyway.
33. The vise-like coverage the New Orleans Saints broke out on him when he was held to 69 yards on six catches in a December 2011 loss.
34. The rematch in playoffs the next month.
35. His five catches for 74 yards and a touchdown in the first half of the wild-card playoff game helped the Lions take a 14-7 halftime lead. Every Detroit sports writer spent halftime looking up flights to Green Bay for the divisional round.
36. Thinking at halftime that Calvin and Stafford were the catalysts and that the playoff-win drought was finally going to end after 20 years.
37. Remembering 211 yards and two touchdowns in the deflating 45-28 playoff loss to the Saints.
38. Waiting forever in the Superdome press box, which had one tiny elevator powered by a scrawny monkey pulling on ropes, and catching only the end of Calvin’s press conference.
39. The Madden 13 cover.
40. The picture of Calvin focused so intently on the approaching ball captured him perfectly. No bluster. No pretense. Just quiet, intense dedication.
41. There’s no way he was a true 99 rating in that game. But the wheel route to Jahvid Best was one of the game’s best plays and couldn’t be stopped.
42. The 2014 season playoff loss at Dallas.
43. Ugh.
44. You can forget everything else about that game and just remember that Stafford should have thrown to Calvin instead of looking for the pass interference on his throw to Brandon Pettigrew.
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45. On third-and-1 from the Dallas 46 with 8:25 left in the game and the Lions leading, 20-17, Calvin had 3 yards — THREE YARDS — of separation running a cross on Brandon Carr up the middle with the safety barely in sight.
46. Stafford loved the P.I. call so much that he passed up an easy throw to Calvin, which is what doomed them in that game.
47. If Stafford hit Calvin in stride on that play, it’s either a touchdown or a chip-shot field goal that would have run more time off the clock instead of giving the Cowboys a short field after Sam Martin’s shanked punt.
48. Clearly, I don’t think about that game much anymore.
49. Seattle. 2015. Monday night. K.J. Wright. Batted ball.
50. Welcome back, vindictive Football Gods.
51. Of all the cluster-fudge things that have happened to the Lions, this one ranks among the highest since it was on national TV.
52. After Wright’s illegal bat, I was strongly starting to suspect Bobby Layne’s curse might be real.
53. The Lions fell to 0-4, started 0-5 and got rid of president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew a few weeks later, signaling the third GM that Calvin was about to play under.
54. Then he retired right after the season as the franchise was heading in yet another direction.
55. New president Rod Wood, four months into his first “football” job, asked Calvin to repay $1.6 million of his bonus money. Brilliant!
56. Back to the happy stuff.
57. Some of my favorite memories about Calvin happened when I shadowed him for two days at the Renaissance Center for a series of seminars and a fundraising dinner.
58. The whole thing was classic Johnson family, a tight-knit affair that was earnest and sincere about helping budding scholars and athletes.
59. Calvin might be his foundation’s president but his mom, Dr. Arica Johnson, is the vice president who steers the whole effort. She’s impressive and raised two children who are doctors. Calvin might be the family’s underachiever.
60. Calvin was busy during the entire event. If he wasn’t running a slide projector for his mom’s seminar, he was in a board meeting or handing out sub sandwiches to guests. When he sat down for our interview, he seemed exhausted.
61. One of the more revealing moments of our conversation came when Calvin told me about a notebook he always keeps by his side that serves as a journal of thoughts, ideas and beliefs he likes to reference.
62. I also met Derrick Moore at the event. He was a Lions running back from 1993-94, but he bonded with Calvin as Georgia Tech’s team chaplain. They’re as tight as anyone and Moore presented him at the Hall of Fame.
63. Moore had Calvin write a mission statement in his notebook years ago. It’s soulful and beautiful. I asked Calvin to read it to me. “This is how I wanted to be seen,” he said, “this is how I wanted to live. To flow in spirit, loving God and others, believing that through hard work our potential can become actualization through faith and to be an example to others through my actions.”
64. I’m not crying, you’re crying!
65. The funny thing about Calvin is that he’s very relaxed and at ease with himself in small groups. But for a long time, he struggled to speak to large groups. He had to give a speech at his fundraising dinner with lots of important people in formal wear. He got through it, but it clearly wasn’t easy for him.
66. Since then, Calvin has started Primitiv, his cannabis dispensary business with former teammate Rob Sims, and he’s gotten miles better at public speaking. I always admire people who are great in one aspect of their lives and work hard to make up for their deficiencies in other parts of their lives.
67. Breaking Jerry Rice’s single-season record with 1,964 yards in 2012.
68. I don’t remember much about Calvin that day, but I remember his father being at Ford Field and beaming with pride as he walked around the stadium with his son and joined him in the press conference.
69. Jerry Rice with a classy touch, congratulating Calvin with a recorded video message that was played at Ford Field.
70. By 2012, Calvin was tracking toward the Hall of Fame and I knew he needed at least one significant record to help his case.
71. I first spoke with Calvin about his Hall of Fame candidacy in 2013 and two things worried me. It wasn’t a priority and he basically told me he might not play much longer.
72. Hall of Fame voters historically used two statistical thresholds for receivers: 1,000 catches and 100 touchdowns.
73. I was worried Calvin might not reach either, but especially the TDs. He only had five touchdowns during his 1,964 yards season. He finished with 731 catches and 83 touchdowns.
74. As Hall of Fame voters visited Detroit during training camp toward the end of Calvin’s career and shortly after it, I began taking informal polls about his candidacy.
75. I never got the feeling he was a slam dunk, especially on his first ballot, because most receivers have to wait.
76. The voters deserve credit for doing what NFL referees and rules-makers don’t. They used their eyes and common sense to do the right thing.
77. When I think of Calvin’s induction, I’ll always think of my Free Press colleague Dave Birkett, the Hall of Fame voter for Detroit.
78. Dave and I talked a lot about Calvin’s candidacy over the years and I knew it wouldn’t be his favorite thing to walk the fine line between presenting Calvin’s case and appearing to be his advocate.
79. Dave made a clear, dispassionate case for Calvin that imbued his career with context beyond statistics. I know for a fact Dave’s presentation was a deciding factor for some voters.
80. Fans think sportswriters live charmed lives because we get to be around their favorite athletes all the time. That’s hardly the case. But with Calvin, I did feel lucky that I got to witness so much greatness and watched a young man grow into an accomplished person while never losing his humility despite all the money and accolades.
81. I’ll reserve this final memory Calvin making his speech in his gold jacket.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.