A nice article by Fox Sports North was done on former Minnesota Twins pitcher, Tom Johnson. Tom is a shirttail cousin of mine(his grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers). Tom and his wife Deb are working in what is similar to a Boys and Girls club over in Slovakia. Using his baseball skills and bringing joy to other areas of those kids' lives.
Tom played at the University of Minnesota and got a free agent try out with the Twins. Tom didnt throw hard but had a great slider, which he could pinpoint pretty well. He grew up playing against Dave Winfield in Little League as they are roughly the same age. With the Twins, Tom had 16 wins one year for the Twins in 1977, which was his best. He developed shoulder problems early in his career, was eventually let go by the Twins and ended up his last year with the White Sox minor league organization before retiring at age 29.
Tom played HS in St Paul at Murray High School and of course Winfield was at Central HS... Tom had a brother that was a pretty good pitcher as well, Steven, who beat Jack Morris at least once when Morris pitched at Highland Park HS. Paul Molitor, who played at Cretin Durham HS, was also in that gang around the same age as Steven so there was some pretty good baseball in St Paul in those days, apparently. Steven got a tryout with the Twins but that was as far as it went and he now lives in Arizona. My mom was close with Tom's sisters and to the best of my knowledge they are still in the Twin Cities area.
But this is a tribute to his family. His mom's side, the Olson side, was a loving family. Tom's mom was Sigrid(a good Scandinavian name) and dad was Ray. The generation above Tom on the mom's side of the family didn't start out with much materially but they were always laughing and were taught to be creative.. The artistic creativity bode well for the future of the family as Sigrid's brother(Tom's uncle), Eugene, was the CEO of Deluxe Checks in Roseville in the mid 1980's when they were one of or possibly the largest check maker in the world. Eugene and Sigrid also had 3 more brothers working at Deluxe checks(Danny-who also held a senior position I think, Kenny, and Johnnie). All of them had artistic talent that went into developing picture on checks that were printed by Deluxe. The 2 other brothers, Carl(they called him Cully) and Arnie became ministers and used their artistic talents in their teaching. I think only Eugene and Danny are still alive in that generation and both live in Florida, I believe. Eugene was a CEO but like all of them, when you saw them they would treat you as if you were the most important person in the world.. I had lots of respect for that whole group as all of them would have big smiles and very inviting.
Tom was a pistol as a young person, according to my family.. Definitely not the guy he is today.. But he had solid parents and relatives who loved and cared for him through those tough years of trying to figure out who he was in life. Junior high boys are a challenge. We, as men, have all been there. We get a burst of testosterone at that age and we don't know how to handle all that. We want to beat up each other and prove we are the toughest kid around.. Just an awkward age. Besides being one at one time, I have worked with junior high kids my whole life and I know you either love them like I do, or can't stand them. I understand, either way. Tom came out of that by transforming into a quality individual.
My point is that Tom finally came around to appreciate the impact his parents and family gave him. They always provided fun, discipline, and love to the family and I can attest that even though OUR whole family didnt start out with money, that it made ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE if we had a penny in our pockets or were flat broke.. If you see life as a privilege to serve others, money just doesn't make that much difference. I know a fair amount of people with millions of dollars that aren't happy, at all. Lots wish they had the family that would have a dad that took time to play catch or even sit down and tell them stories. I know the board is slow so I thought I would post this. I guess my thoughts are if you want to make a huge impact, don't start out thinking that way.. Just try to make a small impact in a few people's lives in whatever is your strength and interest, and the RESULT MAY BE HUGE.. That is the case with Tom and so many others.
Tom played at the University of Minnesota and got a free agent try out with the Twins. Tom didnt throw hard but had a great slider, which he could pinpoint pretty well. He grew up playing against Dave Winfield in Little League as they are roughly the same age. With the Twins, Tom had 16 wins one year for the Twins in 1977, which was his best. He developed shoulder problems early in his career, was eventually let go by the Twins and ended up his last year with the White Sox minor league organization before retiring at age 29.
Tom played HS in St Paul at Murray High School and of course Winfield was at Central HS... Tom had a brother that was a pretty good pitcher as well, Steven, who beat Jack Morris at least once when Morris pitched at Highland Park HS. Paul Molitor, who played at Cretin Durham HS, was also in that gang around the same age as Steven so there was some pretty good baseball in St Paul in those days, apparently. Steven got a tryout with the Twins but that was as far as it went and he now lives in Arizona. My mom was close with Tom's sisters and to the best of my knowledge they are still in the Twin Cities area.
But this is a tribute to his family. His mom's side, the Olson side, was a loving family. Tom's mom was Sigrid(a good Scandinavian name) and dad was Ray. The generation above Tom on the mom's side of the family didn't start out with much materially but they were always laughing and were taught to be creative.. The artistic creativity bode well for the future of the family as Sigrid's brother(Tom's uncle), Eugene, was the CEO of Deluxe Checks in Roseville in the mid 1980's when they were one of or possibly the largest check maker in the world. Eugene and Sigrid also had 3 more brothers working at Deluxe checks(Danny-who also held a senior position I think, Kenny, and Johnnie). All of them had artistic talent that went into developing picture on checks that were printed by Deluxe. The 2 other brothers, Carl(they called him Cully) and Arnie became ministers and used their artistic talents in their teaching. I think only Eugene and Danny are still alive in that generation and both live in Florida, I believe. Eugene was a CEO but like all of them, when you saw them they would treat you as if you were the most important person in the world.. I had lots of respect for that whole group as all of them would have big smiles and very inviting.
Tom was a pistol as a young person, according to my family.. Definitely not the guy he is today.. But he had solid parents and relatives who loved and cared for him through those tough years of trying to figure out who he was in life. Junior high boys are a challenge. We, as men, have all been there. We get a burst of testosterone at that age and we don't know how to handle all that. We want to beat up each other and prove we are the toughest kid around.. Just an awkward age. Besides being one at one time, I have worked with junior high kids my whole life and I know you either love them like I do, or can't stand them. I understand, either way. Tom came out of that by transforming into a quality individual.
My point is that Tom finally came around to appreciate the impact his parents and family gave him. They always provided fun, discipline, and love to the family and I can attest that even though OUR whole family didnt start out with money, that it made ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE if we had a penny in our pockets or were flat broke.. If you see life as a privilege to serve others, money just doesn't make that much difference. I know a fair amount of people with millions of dollars that aren't happy, at all. Lots wish they had the family that would have a dad that took time to play catch or even sit down and tell them stories. I know the board is slow so I thought I would post this. I guess my thoughts are if you want to make a huge impact, don't start out thinking that way.. Just try to make a small impact in a few people's lives in whatever is your strength and interest, and the RESULT MAY BE HUGE.. That is the case with Tom and so many others.
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