Road to 1991 Perfection: Title Team Affects How Johnson Hires People, Watches Huskies
Leif Johnson owns a Seattle successful finance company.
He does it this way because he played for the 1991 University of Washington national championship team.
One success has led to another.
The greatest group of Huskies in school history made a huge impact on him. It taught him how to be highly competitive, able to deal with pressure and handle stress.
Johnson looks for other people like him when he has a position to fill in his company. Someone who has not put him or herself out there need not apply.
"I seek out people who've been in a competitive, athletic environment," the former fullback said. "I think in a lot of ways they're superior and part of it is they've been tested."
This is another in a series of vignettes about the UW's 1991 12-0 run, supplementing the conversation for the recently completed pandemic-influenced season. Leif Johnson will have multiple episodes as the series winds down, with our throwback throwback replay concluding this week.
On this day, Johnson traded messages with former UW tailback Beno Bryant. It's been 30 years since they shared the backfield together at times. They still connect because success breeds success. Bryant, it should be noted, didn't appear in the series because he was camera-shy when approached.
One of the downsides to claiming a national championship, as Johnson candidly admits, is you compare ensuing Husky teams to yours and they don't measure up.
"It's been tough to watch the program go up and down and yo-yo around," Johnson said. "It's been hard for my teammates. It's been hard to watch that kind of loss of glory a little bit. I know there's been some success there, too, no question, but it's hard to go back and reach those pinnacles, because they don't happen very often."
Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated