Ernie Johnson was a four-letter American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player at UCLA in the 1946-1949 seasons.

As a running back, he led the team in scoring during his first season. His final season was the first of head coach Red Sanders, who made Johnson the single-wing tailback

Tailback

Tailback can mean:* Halfback * A line of motor vehicles caught up in traffic congestion; a traffic jam...

.

Johnson also played rugby

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

 at UCLA. He also played basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 under coach John Wooden

John Wooden

John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

 in the 1948-1950 seasons.

In 1999, Johnson was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.

He was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

in the 1950 NFL draft, but never played in the NFL.