To a lot of kids today the fall of Michael Vick is tragic. They believed in him. They thought he was special. They are terribly saddened.
For me the loss is also personal. But it has nothing to do with Vick. It has to do with a hero from my time.
His name is Billy "White Shoes" Johnson.
In the years when I lived in Houston, from 1974-1980, Billy was my favorite player. He was mostly a punt returner, but he was also a wide receiver. He played with enormous flair, and when he scored he did this silly Charleston-like touchdown dance which sent the crowd at the Astrodome into a frenzy. He finished his career in Atlanta, with the Falcons, and the Oilers moved to Tennessee a decade or so later.
Turns out that, in this decade, Billy Johnson was Vick’s "fixer."
What’s a fixer? A fixer is a guy hired by the team to back you up when you screw up. He fixes things.
In Billy’s case the title was coordinator of player programs. In 2002, when Vick failed to show up on some parking tickets it was Billy who drug him to court, then told the media Vick’s claim that the charge was "bogus." Two years later, when one of Vick’s friends swiped the watch of a security scanner at the airport, Billy got it back, and paid the guy off.
The Falcons are currently hiding Billy from the media, but there is no
doubt he did these things, and other, equally demeaning chores over the
years. It was reported in all the papers when it happened. Billy was a
good fixer.
Billy wasn’t really hired to be a fixer. Billy was hired to act as a
community liaison, between the Falcons and the community. Billy cares
about his community, and he cares about the players, in a fatherly way. He cares about
image and understands its importance. Image made Billy "White Shoes" Johnson something other than
another William Johnson.
What Billy Johnson was supposed to be doing was helping players set up
charities, helping them arrange events, like golf tournaments or
fashion shows, to help raise money. His job was supposed to be making
certain each player had a positive image by making certain they were
put in touch with opportunities to do good work which fit in with their
personalities, their preferences, and their beliefs.
But Vick, the thug, turned Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, my hero, into a
fixer. Instead of seeking Billy’s help in integrating himself into the
life of his community, Vick and his friends used Billy as a gofer, as a
shield, as a front man, as a bag man. No doubt as the butt of many jokes. They saw him as a shuffling, grinning Stephin Fetchit, not as a wise, honest man Vick should have been calling friend.
Billy didn’t ask for this. He doesn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus. Arthur Blank owes
Billy Johnson big-time. Mostly, what he owes Billy is the chance to
appear before the commissioner of the NFL and rat-out every dirty,
low-down thing he was forced to do for Vick and his cronies. But he
also deserves Blank’s help in getting his good name back. He should be fronting charity events,
here and in Houston. He should be doing good work, not covering up bad deeds.
Michael Vick will never get his good name back. He doesn’t deserve it.
He got into the thug life before he ever joined the team, and he lived
a lie all the time he was here.
But Billy "White Shoes" Johnson does deserve his good name back. And I
hope Arthur Blank helps him get it. It’s not too much to ask for man who did what you told him to do, Arthur.
