R.I.P. - Gary “Big Hands” Johnson

Gary “Big Hands” Johnson, a Chargers Hall of Famer and one of the most dominant defensive tackles in club history, died today, two weeks after suffering a stroke.



Johnson, also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame after an outstanding career at Grambling, died at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, La., the city in which he was born. He was 57.
 Johnson was the eighth player chosen in the 1975 draft and played for the Chargers from 1975-84 before finishing his career with San Francisco in 1984 and 1985. Johnson was voted an All-Pro in 1980 (when he had 17 1/2 sacks) and 1981 and was named to the Pro Bowl in four straight seasons (1979-82). The Chargers won the AFC West in three of those seasons and made the playoffs in all four.



He was given the nickname “Big Hands” by a teacher in eighth grade when he went to pick up a basketball in P.E. class in Bossier City, La. The moniker stuck, and as Johnson said before he was inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame in 2007, “I can’t put my hands on a counter without people saying, ‘You’ve got big hands.’ ”