Every year, Friends of South inducts notable South alumni into the Axe Hall of Fame. This year, they honor eight accomplished alumni who The Axe had the opportunity to interview and spotlight.

Richard W Johnston (1916-1981) was born in Eugene, Ore., and started his career at University High School, later to become South Eugene High School. He graduated from University High School in 1933 and enrolled at the University of Oregon.

Johnston worked at Oregon newspapers including Eugene’s own Register-ZGuard and the Portland Journal before beginning his career at United Press International in 1939. It was with the United Press that he was sent to cover World War II in the Pacific in 1943. With the Pacific fleet, Johnston traveled to numerous islands on American battleships. During his travels, he received a Marine Corps citation for bravery and witnessed many important battles in the war, including the Japanese surrender at Tokyo Bay on the Battleship Missouri. After the war, Johnston went on to edit Life magazine’s picture history of World War II and wrote a book titled Follow Me! about his experiences with the Second Marine Division in the South Pacific.

In 1946, Johnston joined Time magazine as a foreign news writer and then moved to Life as an editor. In 1953, he joined a team that would go on to create the magazine Sports Illustrated where he worked for the rest of his professional career. The magazine, of which Johnston was the executive editor, now has a circulation of 3.3 million copies. For his work as the magazine’s executive editor, Johnston earned the nickname “The Blue Pencil” and, according to his colleagues, edited nearly every story that the magazine published during his time there. In 1970, after 17 years at Sports Illustrated, Johnston retired, but stayed a freelance writer and contributing editor for the magazine. He spent the rest of his life in Honolulu, Hawaii where he died in 1981 at the age of 65; an obituary was printed in the New York Times. Richard Johnston and his wife Laurie Johnston are commemorated at the annual Johnston Lecture at the U of O School of Journalism.

As a notable South alum, the Friends of South have decided to induct Richard W Johnston into the Axe Hall of Fame to honor his achievements in journalism and to inspire students through examples of successful people who started their careers as students at South Eugene High School.

Read more about Richard Johnston on the Friends of South website.

Article by Julian White