Wildcat woes remind Johnson of life's hard, bumpy paths

In the heart of the deep South -- near the sprawling plantations that serve as a daily reminder of a darker time in American history -- Jevon Johnson grew up.

Although he is black and from an area of the country that once fought a war to protect slavery, Johnson still loves his Savannah, Ga., home. He loves his home despite its pitfalls and shortcomings, and he plans to return after graduating from Northwestern this spring.

Before that, Johnson must finish his career on the Northwestern men's basketball team. He also must fulfill his mother's wish.

"I had never even heard of Northwestern until they recruited me," Johnson said. "(My mother) liked the idea that I would not only be playing in the Big Ten, but I would also be getting a good education."

So Johnson spurned offers from Alabama, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Southern California and Western Kentucky and headed for Northwestern's Evanston, Ill., campus and a far different atmosphere.

He also headed for the worst team in Big Ten history -- one that has never made it to the NCAA tournament and had just one winning season in the 20 years prior to Johnson's arrival.

But the Wildcats finished with a respectable 15-14 record during the 1993-94 season, Johnson's freshman campaign, and went to the National Invitation Tournament. The point guard played sparingly, appearing in just 12 games. He also had trouble swallowing the mediocrity everyone seemed to be so happy about.

"We had maybe lost eight or nine games in my four years of high school," Johnson said. "Going to a losing team really did hurt. It made me think I wasn't as good as I was supposed to be. I talked to my high school coach, though, and he told me to stick in there."

Johnson stuck in there, but during his sophomore year, mediocrity wasn't a problem. The Wildcats were terrible and finished an abysmal 5-22. Not only that, Johnson tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee against DePaul.

NCAA regulations state an athlete may compete in no more than six games to be eligible for a medical redshirt. Johnson's injury came in the seventh.

"That was the first time in my life I had a serious injury," Johnson said. "It came during the worst winter in years. It was 70 below. There was snow on the ground. The team was losing, and I was on crutches."

Johnson remained on crutches for five months and had just two seasons remaining in his Northwestern career. He also was having trouble off the court.

Johnson's alma mater, Savannah High School, had a 90 percent black population when he graduated. He was struggling to find his place at Northwestern, which had and still has, a 6 percent black population. Johnson was drowning in a sea of white faces.

As a basketball player he managed to bounce back from the injury. Last season he started all 27 Wildcat games, averaging 6.8 points and dishing out a team-high 84 assists.

This season Johnson had to weather the loss of the team's most productive offensive player, Gino Carlisle, at the start of the season. Carlisle said Northwestern would never be a winner and transferred to California.

Johnson also has been forced to deal with Monday's announcement of coach Ricky Byrdsong's firing. Through it all the point guard is averaging 10 points per game. On Jan. 22, he scored a season-high 24 against Penn State.

But life has improved very little away from the basketball court.

"The social atmosphere is not conducive to black students," Johnson said. "There are not too many people like me, and people don't want to deal with me because of my color."

Andreen Neukranz-Butler, the director of affirmative action at Northwestern, said Johnson's plight may be more a result of his status as a black athlete than his status as a black student.

"If I were an athlete, I would feel, no matter what my background, that I couldn't participate in student life," she said.

Nonetheless, Johnson eagerly will return to the South after earning his degree in organizational studies this spring. With the education his mother so wanted him to have, Johnson will return to what he knows.

"Don't get me wrong," he said. "There's racial tension in the South, but it's more open. You can tell who you're dealing with. Up here it's kind of hidden.

"It's hard to fit in."