TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee is where Johnnie Stephens\u2019 life and legacy are remembered and celebrated.<\/p>\n
Stephens was killed in action, ambushed in Vietnam on April 22, 1969.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go to the door, and there\u2019s a man in uniform, and he came in, and he said how sad he was to notify him,\u201d said Sally Stephens Sperling, his widow, about the night she found out Stephens had been killed.<\/p>\n
Sperling first met her future husband at Raa Middle School. They started dating in the 9th grade and married in 1967. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew the beginning of our senior year at Leon that he was the man for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI loved him because he was the most honest, decent person, whether anyone was watching or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what made Stephens a standout football player, even though he stood just over six feet tall and less than 200 pounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really don\u2019t believe he was 6\u20321,” laughed David Wilson, a local veteran historian. \u201cYou know how the colleges they stretch the statistics and everything? He was undersized, but he was a great effort guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, as a multi-sport athlete for the Leon Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would be so thirsty and exhausted,\u201d remembered Sperling. \u201cThe practices on that hot Leon field that they would crawl down like they\u2019d been tackled and drink out of mud puddles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, for the Florida State football team.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohnnie loved football. He wanted to play,\u201d said Sperling. \u201cI think he picked FSU and coach Peterson because they\u2019d give him playing time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a hall of fame career, he had a hall of fame attitude, he had a hall of fame work ethic,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cWhat he didn\u2019t have was a hall of fame body, but he made up for it with hall of fame effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephens started every game and played every snap at center his junior year, and while his legacy on the field is what\u2019s grabbed the bylines, his impact off is what keeps his memory alive today.<\/p>\n
In 1968, during integration, Stephens took a Black Carabelle senior football player on a recruiting trip through the segregated South.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some parts of the south, there was great resentment about Vietnam, and there was great resentment about integration,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cFor Johnnie to do that, to me, was a great act of courage. It was also an act of courage on Roosevelt\u2019s family. It showed the trust they had in Johnnie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was really good, and when they say the good die young, you wonder,\u201d said Sperling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWars rob us of potential. I can only think of the potential of Johnnie,\u201d added Wilson. \u201cIn 23 years, the impact he had on people and what he might have done had he lived past that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Wilson, Stephens is one of just two college football players from the state of Florida killed in combat. The other was Donald Coles Woodruff, who played at Florida A&M.<\/p>\n
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