For the Johnsons, Pirate football is a family thing

For the Johnson family, you can definitely say football runs in their genes.

Four generations of Johnsons have graced Polson High's gridiron over a span of more than 85 years, starting with Arle "Swede" Johnson, who played right end in 1929. All four Johnsons — Swede, Elliot, Roger and Ross — were recognized at a recent home game for the historical achievement.

Back then, the "pigskin" was actually made of pig skin and games were only played during the day as there were no field lights, plus there wasn't a team bus. They traveled in private cars to Loyola, and no further than that, Swede said.

Back then, the game wasn't played nearly as aggressively, Swede noted.

"I don't think they drove us as hard. You gotta be fast now a days and very aggressive," he said.

At six-foot-three and 150 pounds, Swede described himself as an average player. He started when the game was a relatively new addition to the high school sports program. Swede estimated that high school football began in the late '20s, making him one of the first generations of students to participate in the sport.

At the time, Polson had a population of about 2,000, Swede guessed, and as Polson has grown, so has the sport's fan base. Now, bleachers are packed on any given Friday night, something the Pirates didn't quite manage to do in the '30s.

As for their skill as a team, "We won some, we lost some," he said.

Aside from archaic equipment — they didn't play with face masks, for example — perhaps the biggest difference between the way the game was played then compared to now is that rivalry wasn't pegged squarely on Ronan.

"I don't believe there was a rivalry like there is between Polson and Ronan now," he said. Instead, every team was just as worthy an opponent as the next.

Little did Swede know that the Johnson lineage on the football field wasn't going to end with him. His son, Elliot, picked up the ball in 1949 and played fullback throughout his high school career on the very field his dad first honed his skills.

It was easy for Elliot to pinpoint a highlight. They didn't lose a game in the fall of 1952. At that time, they didn't compete for the state title because there was no state title. Instead, they vied to take the Western Montana Championship, a championship they tied for.

His day on the gridiron wasn't as complex as it is now. Instead it was just "straight old football," Elliot said. Now, he sees high school ball following the lead of college ball and becoming increasingly more technical.

He saw the game advance when his son Roger was a fullback and defensive end in the late '70s, once again on the very battlefield where two generations of Johnsons played before him played.

Roger played as the game steadily evolved into more of a thinking man's sport. While the game made some progress since the days his father and grandfather before him played, it still wasn't played like it is now, intricate and calculated, Roger said.

Instead, they "ran pretty much a straight wishbone offense" with fullback ahead of the split end tailback. It was an option offense, and a frequently used one.

"We didn't have a cover two defense," he said. "We didn't shift around like they do."

In his senior year, the Pirates ranked high in the state. Halfway through the season, they were the only undefeated team. But, then they played Whitefish, lost and dumped their next two games, ending the season 5-3.

Here's an interesting fact — their helmets were filled with water. Roger couldn't quite understand the logic behind that except that, in the '70s, things filled with water were pretty chic, he said.

"That was the new thing," he laughed. "Waterbeds were the big thing too. Waterbeds and water helmets."

Sporting the latest technologically-advanced football gear is his son Ross, who'll graduate PHS in 2006.

Ross played tackle and defensive end and nose guard and put his high school football career behind him when the season came to an end recently.

Ross said that he didn't feel any pressure from his dad, granddad and great-granddad to play the game. He just wanted to carry on the tradition.

When asked what it is like to represent the fourth generation of Johnsons on the Pirate football field, he exclaimed that it is "pretty cool" and not likely to happen to another family.

That sentiment is shared by all the Johnsons who declared that to all be alive to watch each other on the football field is amazing.

"It's not like we were having kids at 16," Roger said.

"It is unusual — four generations are still living to experience it," Elliot said. "It is just luck of the draw I guess."

And perhaps it might not end with Ross.

"I'd like to have a son out there playing," Ross said. "I'd like to carry the tradition."