Stevenson's Johnson will be one gigantic trick-or-treater

The King of the Court will soon be paying tribute to the King of Pop.

Nate Johnson, who was named Stevenson's Homecoming King last week, is pumped to go trick-or-treating in a few weeks as Michael Jackson. Johnson, who programmed Jackson's popular song "Bad" to play on his cell phone while callers wait for him to pick up, is a big Michael Jackson fan.

He'll also be one gigantic trick-or-treater.

But the 6-foot-3, 17-year-old Johnson, who plans to dress as Jackson circa the "Thriller" era, isn't the least bit worried that he could be one of the oldest candy seekers going door to door with a goody bag.

"Hey, it's my way to honor him," Johnson said of the iconic singer, who died in June of a likely drug overdose. "Plus, this is my last time. It's my very last time to ever go trick-or-treating."

And Johnson, a senior at Stevenson who says he'll be too old to trick-or-treat once he gets to college next year, doesn't want to think of the coulda, woulda, shouldas. He's never been one to want to live with regrets.

It's how he wound up on the Stevenson football team in the first place.

You wouldn't know it now, not with the way he busts big plays and hauls in passes in midstride, but Johnson isn't exactly the most experienced football player around.

Now Stevenson's top receiver with more than 25 receptions and 700 yards, 8 touchdowns and a nifty list of Division I programs such as Northwestern showing interest in him, Johnson was simply a fan of the football team less than two years ago. And had he not had a chance encounter with Stevenson football coach Bill Mitz in a hallway at school one day, he'd likely still be cheering in the stands during games.

"Two years ago, one of our practices got suspended because it started lightning outside, so we all went inside," Mitz said. "I'm walking down the hall with my assistants and Nate walks by and I'm like, 'Who's that?' Here's this big, tall, muscular kid and he's not playing football.

"We turn back and call him over and start talking with him, and then I asked him if he would consider playing football. It was already like the fifth or sixth week of the season, but I still wanted to ask. He has height, big hands, long arms. That's what you want in a receiver. He looked like he could be a pretty good football player."

Mitz's instincts were correct. Problem was, Johnson was already a pretty darn good basketball player. And, at the time, he was convinced that it would be in his best interest to focus solely on hoops.

On top of that, Johnson's parents, Lauren and Nate, were concerned about the risk of injury in football and had always discouraged him from playing. So Johnson's focus on basketball was only further sharpened.

"I've always liked football and I've played a little flag football. But all while I was growing up, I never played real football. I never played with real pads or a real helmet. Ever," Johnson said. "I played a little soccer when I was younger, but really, I had been a strictly basketball guy. I love basketball. I always have. I came into high school just wanting to play basketball."

"The funny thing is, my freshman year I was in the weight room one day and I started talking to Coach Mitz. He probably doesn't even remember this and, at the time, I didn't even know who he was. Somehow we got on the topic of football and I was like, 'Yeah, I've always wondered what it would be like to play.' And he said, 'Oh, you should come out for the team.' But that was pretty much that. Nothing came of it."

Johnson went about his way and kept working on basketball. A year later, just before the start of his sophomore year, he got word that he would be playing on the varsity basketball team.

"Football was starting up again, and I thought about talking to my parents about letting me play," Johnson said. "But at that point, I thought that it might not be the best idea to try to play football while I was trying to train really hard and get my body in the best of shape to play varsity basketball as a sophomore.

"So I just kind of forgot about football."

But clearly, football didn't forget about Johnson, and several weeks later, lightning struck.

After his meeting with Mitz in the hallway on that fateful fall afternoon, Johnson went home and had a heart-to-heart with his Mom and Dad.

"I had reservations about all the contact in football," Lauren Johnson said. "But when Nate came home and told us what happened with Coach Mitz that day, he told us that one of the 'central regrets' in his life was that we had never let him play football.

"I thought, 'Oh, Lord, you're too young to have central regrets.' But I still felt really bad. So I just said, 'OK, if you want to play football this bad, I don't want to be the one to hold you back.' That was too heavy, I couldn't take that. I started thinking to myself that I just wanted him to have happy memories. And I just told myself that I'm going to have faith that it will be OK."

Johnson had to have some faith, too - faith in himself that he could pull off this rather unorthodox beginning to a football career.

"My parents and I thought that with 4,500 kids at Stevenson and for Coach Mitz to pick me out and ask me to come out for the team, especially halfway through the season, that it must be a sign that I should at least try it," Johnson said. "But I was so nervous. I just kept thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I'm actually going to play football. Real football.'

"I went out there to the practice field that first day with my shoulder pads on backward and everything. But, hey, I was there."

And was Johnson curious about what his new teammates were thinking.

"I knew they were probably thinking, 'Here's this kid joining the team halfway through the season ... what's so great about him,' " Johnson said. "So I was doing everything I could to do things right, to not drop any passes. I really wanted to show that I belonged."

Johnson played all of his games with the sophomore team that season but did show enough to be promoted to the varsity for the playoffs.

"Nate is a big, athletic kid and he did pretty well just coming in during the middle of the season like that," Mitz said. "But now that he's had some time to really learn the game, it's amazing what he can do. He watches a lot of film, he's confident out there now. I was making highlight tapes for all the schools out there that are interested in him and when you watch the film on him just from last year and you compare it to what he's doing out there now, it's a whole different world in terms of how he goes to the ball and how he plays the game.

"Nate isn't just a basketball player running around on the football field. He's a football player now."

Come late November, Johnson will be back to being a basketball player. He says he still loves hoops and is excited for the upcoming season after putting together a solid off-season with his AAU and summer league teams.

"I definitely haven't forgotten about basketball," said Johnson, a forward who averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds last year as a junior.

But for now, Johnson, who clearly is nicknamed "Lightning" not only for his speed or electrifying catches, continues to thank his lucky stars every day for the lightning storm that powered up his unexpected football career.

"Football has been amazing," Johnson said. "If it wasn't for that lightning thing, I would have never been playing football, never known my talent and I probably would have held a grudge against my parents for not letting me play. I'm so thankful to them for letting me play."

Johnson says he's also super thankful to Mitz and that a simple "thank you" just won't do.

"Letting me join the team during the season is one of the biggest favors anyone has ever done for me," Johnson said. "I don't know what to do to thank Coach Mitz but I'm trying to think of something because this experience has been so great for me. Even just the rush of putting on my uniform and running onto the field with 80 other guys... I'll never forget it."

pbabcock@dailyherald.com