Robert Walter Johnson earned the nickname of “Whirlwind” as a Negro All-American running back at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University in the early 1920s. Johnson was an exceptional football player who scored eight touchdowns in one game, setting a record for Lincoln. Upon graduation, Johnson coached football at Sam Houston College, Morris Brown College, Fisk University, and Virginia Seminary. In 1932, he earned his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.

Johnson became interested in tennis while a practicing dentist in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was the first Black person with staff privileges at Lynchburg General Hospital. Proving to be a skilled tennis player, Johnson won 55 tennis trophies that included 6 national championship titles during his life. He won the ATA National Mixed Doubles Championships with Althea Gibson on seven occasions—from 1948 to 1950 and from 1952 to 1955.

Johnson generously dedicated most of his time to the development of hundreds of Black juniors from across the country, to whom he became known as “Dr. J.” Johnson recruited the nation’s top Black juniors from 1950 until his death. He worked with tennis greats such as Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe and provided them with room, board, and training on a clay court he built outside his Lynchburg home. In addition to tennis instruction, Johnson provided his students with tools to overcome the discrimination they unfortunately still faced. As director and founder of the American Tennis Association (ATA) Junior Development Program, more than a hundred of Johnson’s protégés received college tennis scholarships.

Johnson worked with other notable professional players, such as Leslie Allen, Willis Thomas, Bob Davis, and Art Carrington. His junior development program was a precursor to today’s high-tech academies. Davis, who was a teaching professional at Nick Bollettieri’s academy in Bradenton, Florida, noticed Johnson’s teaching methods’ continuing influence on tennis instruction. Davis said, “Dr. Johnson knew we would all become better because we fed off each other. That’s the exact philosophy that Bollettieri used at his academy.”

Johnson’s efforts in the Black tennis community to provide opportunity for players have not gone unnoticed. In 1972, Johnson was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He was a Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame inductee in 1988. In 2008, Johnson was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame. In 2009, Johnson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. His honors extend beyond tennis as well. Johnson was named an NAACP Life Membership Chairman and he received the Spiro T. Agnew Honorary Citizenship Award.

In 2002, Johnson’s Lynchburg residence was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Whirlwind Johnson Foundation is spearheading efforts to restore and preserve not only Johnson’s home and tennis courts, but also his legacy.