40 PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 41

JOE JOHNS Suddenly, life's most routine acts were not so routine anymore. "HE's JusT JoE" Johns' report to the nation on a chilly evening focused on another inexplicable, senseless, public murder. And Joe, speaking with poise by Dave Wellman and in his usual firm voice from the scene of the latest incident, said the D.C. sniper was still unidentified, still at large, and still killing. Thousands, Johns included, were uneasy at best. Many were frightened. "That was kind of rough," Johns recalled a few months later, the tension gone but hardly forgotten. "It was about the scariest story I've done." oe Johns re~embers her only as Miss Gullas, his sixth-grade It might have been scary, but Johns appeared cool and trustworthy teacher at ~Ighland Elementary in Columbus, Ohio. Joe doesn't .J recall her fust name, but he will never forget a few choice under the pressure. Was this the same person who once described words of advice from Miss Gullas when he was 12 years himself as "pretty useless" as a child? old. , Joe Johns has come a long way since those childhood days in the 1960's, when he lived with his parents and two stepbrothers in a house "She said if I didn't bordered by a picket fence in a "tidy little neighborhood" on the west learn to speak in front of side of Columbus, or even since his days of disco dancing the night people, I'd never amount to away, shot putting and discus throwing at a championship level, and "He listened to Miss anything," Joe says. acting on stage to rave reviews while at Marshall University. Joe, an Miss Gullas must have Gullas ... and now the award-winning professional journalist and 1980 Marshall graduate with seen something in the world listens to him." a bachelor's degree in political science, puts the trust of an entire nation youngster that not even he on his shoulders night after night. After two decades of reporting in knew existed. After all, by his Washington, it's a trust he's earned. own admission, Johns was "He prepared himselffor this," says Dr. Troy Stewart of Marshall's clumsy and awkward, and Political Science department, one of Johns' former professors. "It was even stuttered when under pressure or in front of people. But, he listened to Miss Gullas. And almost like he was ordained. Once you get into the big time, you don't now, the world listens to him. just rip and read. Those on-camera people are not just pretty faces. You've got to have something else. Joe will tell you he's a political Joe John~ is an NBC News conespondent in Washington, D.C., ~nd has been smce 1993. He reports calmly and with confidence, even scientist who reports the news." m t~e most trying circumstances. In autumn 2002, as an anxious Fortunately, alleged D.C. snipers Lee BoydMalvo and John Allen audience watched and listened, Joe related stories of folks in the D.C. Muhammad were hunted down and arrested, but not before allegedly area ~o pa:alyzed by fear that they refused to leave their homes. Others, shooting 19 people and killing 13 in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, the he said, did venture out, b'-!t many were afraid to stand alongside their District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. It was Johns' duty to cars even long enough to pump a tank of gasoline. cover this story for NBC, and that meant "nerve-racking" daily assignments that had him guarding his back. The situation was similar, 42 PROFILES IN PROMINENCE PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 43 albeit on a smaller level, to reporters who were embedded with the career, a career he loves, even in the most trying times-a career military during the Iraq war. in which he excels. "You had no idea if the suspect or suspects might have doubled It's a profession Joe Johns somewhat expected, even as a teen, back," Joe says of the danger and accompanying tension. "Everybody though he knew few attain such lofty status in the media. While still a wondered whether the sniper would come back." student at West High School in Columbus, he jotted down a list of The tension had eased by the time Joe and his colleagues three or four things he would like to do with his life. followed up the sniper story on the NBC Nightly News broadcast "Being a network news correspondent was one of the things on the day after Malvo and Muhammad were arrested. For that report, the list," Joe says. He also wrote down lawyer and actor as possibilities. titled "The Arrest of the Snipers," the Radio-Television News The road to D.C., of course, first ran abut 130 miles south of Directors Association selected NBC News as winner of the Columbus through Huntington, West Virginia, and Marshall. prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast in the TV Johns, along with stepbrothers John Johns and Jeffery Johns, Network category in 2003. Another NBC News correspondent was raised in Columbus by his mother, Betty Jo, and his stepfather, heavily involved in the sniper coverage was David Bloom, who Russell Johns. His mother and biological father, Joseph Brooks, also put himself in harm's way months later during the war. While divorced in Tennessee when Joe was very young. embedded with the U.S. Army's 3'd Infantry Division outside "We weren't rich," Johns says of his Columbus upbringing. "We Baghdad in early April, Bloom died of an apparent pulmonary were probably lower middle class." In the mid-1980's, Joe visited embolism, stunning viewers and his co-workers-including Joe Brooks in Tennessee for the first time since he moved from there to Johns. Ohio with his mother. Today, Joe says the Brooks family is a big part "I worked with him fairly closely, particularly on the sniper story," of his life. Joe says. "He was an extremely focused, driven correspondent. His "I can count among my very best friends a cousin on the Brooks death shocked us all. It was surreal. It's still hard to believe. He was at side (Roland), who happened to be attending Howard University in the top of his game. I still haven't been able to make sense of it." Washington, D.C., unbeknownst to me," Johns says. Today, Roland is The terror-filled three weeks tracking the snipers, mostly in a comedian, a.k.a. Buddy Lewis, and lives in Hollywood. He has the D.C. area, were a stark contrast to the brief, but joyous, time appeared in several films, a couple of plays, and a number of TV shows, Johns had spent at Marshall about two weeks before the snipers including "Def Comedy Jam." claimed their first victim. He had returned to his alma mater from Johns' acting career began in the seventh grade in a one-act play his Darnestown, Maryland, home to speak at an alumni luncheon­ called "Anyone for the Moon," in which he played the president of the one of numerous events he has attended on the campus since he moon. The year before, hardly anyone would have expected him to graduated. The mood was festive. participate in a play or stand on stage for anything. But then, Miss While on campus Johns visited the Lefty Rollins Track, where as Gullas intervened. Suddenly, Johns wanted to play baseball and wanted a scholarship athlete he'd won championships and established school to be on stage. Miss Gullas, he says, had a big influence on him. "She records in the shot put and discus while attending Marshall in the late stressed competitive academics," he says. "Students got points in class 1970's. And, he spoke to a large crowd attending a brunch in the for answering history questions correctly. The greatest gift she gave Memorial Student Center, a speech focused mostly on his high-profile me was a love for education. Some of my other teachers had made job with NBC. As usual when Johns comes back to Huntington, pleasant school a less-than-enjoyable experience. Miss Gullas made learning thoughts of his college days resurface before he returns to his chosen a pleasure." 44 PROFILES IN PROMINENCE PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 45

Johns says he was involved in theater "a little bit" in high So, he chose Marshall, where his passion for the sport made s.chool a~.d "my. parents always had me speaking in church, things track and field his top priority, but hardly his only focus. Johns hke that. So, h1s public speaking continued to improve from year also excelled in theater while at the university, starring in numerous to year. productions. He was nominated for the prestigious Irene Ryan His interest in politics began when he was named governor at the Award at the American College Theater Festival. He also won a Buckeye Boys State in 1974. "That was a nine-day crash course in scholarship in a national acting competition from the National ~tate government," Johns said in an interview with the Herald-Dispatch Society of Arts and Letters (NASL) Acting Competition in Chicago m 1979. "That's where I acquired an interest in politics ... how in June 1979. His audition pieces were the part of Richard, Duke people get things done." of Gloucester, in a scene from Shakespeare's Henry VI, and the That interest extended to Marshall, where he was a fine student, prologue from the playlet, The Blind Man at the Party. In March of "always very much focused," Stewart says. "He did what he set that same year, Johns qualified for the NASL finals by winning out to do, be a political scientist who reports the news." frrst place in the Ohio Valley Regional Chapter's competition in In addition to his interests in acting and politics, Johns had won Parkersburg, West Virginia. the Ohio state high school championship in the discus throw while at "Joe is one ofthe finest actors we've ever had at this place," said West, and his efforts ranked among the best in the country. With Dr. Elaine A. Novak, then director of Marshall University Theatre, in outstanding credentials in track and field and in the classroom his a 1979 interview with the Huntington Advertiser. She raved about Joe options were numerous after he graduated from West in 1975. ' Johns' "great potential" as an actor when the two worked together at "I looked at a lot of different schools," Joe says. "I thought hard Marshall. "He can read Shakespearean lines with a ring of authority­ about Ohio State, Ohio University, Oberlin, Howard University, and something not every college student or veteran actor can do," she said. Kenyon College, but the reason I ended up at Marshall was overall "He's a very intelligent and mature young man, who is a joy to work value. I realized that I could get a quality education and top-flight with. He's very eager and works hard." NCAA competition, and it was just a two-and-a-half hour drive Like Miss Gullas, Novak saw something special in Joe and said from my home in Columbus. I could also get away from the city as much as she looked to the future during his senior year. "Ten or madness and have this experience of small class size and personal 15 years from now, whatever Joe does, I'm confident Marshall relationships with the instructors." will be proud to claim him as an alumnus," Novak said. Marshall, of course, pursued Johns' talents for track and field. The day before the Ohio Valley acting competition, Johns set a Coach Andy Nameth invited him to visit the campus, introduced school record in the shot put with a toss of 54 feet, 8-1/2 inches in a dual him to coaches and instructors, and offered him a scholarship. Joe track and field meet against West Virginia University. Joe proved to be accepted. excellent in athletics, excellent on stage, and-for good measure­ "He took more of an interest in me than any of the other colleges," excellent in the classroom, consistently making the dean's list. Johns says of Nameth. "The scholarship freed me from working As an actor at Marshall, Johns was extremely versatile and, my way through school and provided me time to pursue other standing 6 feet, 3-1/2 inches, he had a commanding stage presence. interests." Marshall offered the perfect mix for Joe. He performed in numerous productions, with roles such as "I'm pretty sure I could have gone to an Ivy League school­ Spettigue in Charley's Aunt, Diccon the Bedlam in Gammer ! had decent grades," Johns says. "But it would have been so Gurton 's Needle, Purlie in Purlie Victorious, Ormiston in Vivat! expensive." Vivat Regina!, Antonio in Twelfth Night and the next-door neighbor PROFILES IN PROMINENCE PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 47

in Tobacco Road. Purlie, of course, was the lead role in Purlie shift. We got to know each other pretty well. It was kind of neat." Victorious, which was selected as one of six plays to be presented Since his college days, Johns also has known "Today" co-host at the Southeastern Theater Conference Regional Festival. Matt Lauer. They were introduced by Derbyshire. Charles Derbyshire, a Huntington native and one of Johns' In 1988, Johns won a Washington Emmy for spot news for a former acting buddies at Marshall, is surprised that Johns chose a piece on the violent and controversial tactics of the Nation oflslam to TV news career over acting. Derbyshire spent 15 years as an actor rid a dangerous neighborhood of drugs. Five years later, Washingtonian in New York City, and now is a programmer for the Bravo TV Magazine named him one of the city's best local news reporters. Johns Network. "His passion seemed to be the theater, which was my recalls that during his years at WRC, moving up to national reporting passion," Derbyshire remembers. "I didn't see him being a with the network was always in the back of his mind. Once he made it, newscaster. It was a little surprising, I have to say." Johns learned rather quickly one of the differences in local reporting The big screen's loss was NBC's gain. Johns considered and national reporting. graduate school or law school after receiving his undergraduate "My first story with the network was on Thanksgiving Day in degree, and was accepted into a couple of acting programs. But, 1993, and it was about Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who was he was hired as a reporter and anchor by WSAZ-TV in Huntington chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee," Johns says. "He in January 1980, before graduating from Marshall, "and that sort was under investigation (for mail fraud) . A certain well-known of changed the whole equation." Washington fixture had said something about Rostenkowski that was After a brief stay at WSAZ, Joe was hired by ABC affiliate relevant and needed to be confirmed. It took me an hour to get him on WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C., in 1981, and he remained there for a the phone, but he called me back. I remember thinking, 'This is couple of years. He was a reporter and substitute anchor, and helped amazing. When you're with the network, you call a Washington big the station win the UPI Best Local Newscast Award with his reporting shot and he calls you back!' " of a chemical leak that forced thousands of people to evacuate their While still reporting for WRC, Johns did a live shot for "Today" homes. from Virginia Beach as a hunicane headed up the east coast, but the Johns then went to WRC-TV in Washington, where he stayed Rostenkowski story was his first as an NBC News correspondent. Many, from 1983 to 1993. He was named NBC News' Capitol Hill many more memorable stories have followed for the man whose voice correspondent in December 1993, and has been there since. While once was described by Novak as a "magnificent instrument." working full time, Johns obtained a law degree from American As an NBC correspondent, Johns has covered not only legislation, University in Washington, D.C., graduating in May 2002. politics, and policy, but also the impeachment of President Bill Clinton Currently, Johns reports for various NBC programs, including and terrorism, including the anthrax attacks of 2001. During the Clinton NBC Nightly News, Today, MSNBC, MSNBC.com and CNBC. But, administration, Johns occasionally was assigned to cover the White his big break came when he was hired at WRC, NBC's award-winning House and the First Family. In 1996, he traveled with First Lady Hillary owned and operated station. There, he worked alongside current Today Clinton on a seven-nation visit to central Europe that included stops in co-host Katie Couric, then a general assignment reporter, from Egypt and Israel. He also covered President Clinton's historic tour 1987 to 1989. of Africa. "We were the night rep

Haiti with United States Marines who had been ordered by Of course, Johns says, he's very familiar with and still follows President Clinton to assist the country in its transition from a Marshall's astonishing success in football over the past two dictatorship to democratically elected control. decades. However, citing financial reasons, the university recently "Some of my most interesting work has been when Congress abolished the men's varsity track and field program-which is the was out of session," Johns says. "When Congress is out, you can end main reason Johns came to Marshall. While he was gratified that up doing almost anything." women's track survived the cut, Joe said he "looks forward to the Whether he'll remain a news correspondent with NBC for the day" men's intercollegiate track and field returns to the campus. rest of his career is uncertain, Johns says. But, he admits, "The business "In life you're either going forward or you're not. And getting rid is really exciting right now. There are so many opportunities in our of the men's track team was not going forward," he says. company to do so many things. I could stay here forever and be Athletic success is the "common ground" among many Marshall completely happy. I also realize that cable broadcasting has needs that alumni, he believes. And, although he was an outstanding athlete at are changing constantly. So, it's real important to be flexible. I don't Marshall in his own right, Johns remembers the other sides of college know what direction my career could go." life-in the classroom and on the town-with great fondness. He With 20-plus years of broadcasting experience, along with two studied hard in the classroom, and partied and danced just as hard at degrees, he's well prepared for whatever career changes might take the Stonybrook Inn. place. It's obvious that his college experience at Marshall served its "It was sort of the disco era, and we had a wonderful time wearing purpose. crazy clothes, keeping late hours, partying in that city," Johns says, "I found exactly what I wanted in this little town on the Ohio laughing at the memories. "Right before I got there, a year or two River," Joe says. "It was awesome. I really didn't like the idea of maybe, Marshall was named one of the great party colleges in the going to a school where you had to watch a TV screen to see the country. So, we had a wonderful time, but school was very challenging professor's face. When I got to school it was important for me to have for all of us." direct contact with the instructors. To this day I cherish those personal Conquering the social challenges that come with college proved relationships with the instructors. I was obviously very familiar with a easy for Johns, with the help of friends such as Derbyshire and number of large schools, including one (Ohio State University) in my roommate Mike Fox. Derbyshire describes himself as a "former jock" hometown. They had great reputations and huge class size. Not taking at Barboursville High School (Class of '75), so he and Johns connected anything away from those schools, but I was one of those people who and, in fact, worked out together at times. decided large class size and an impersonal education were not for me." "We would work out on weights, then jog through town, over to Marshall President Dan Angel has stressed the importance of the the south side and back up 8th Avenue to campus," Derbyshire says. "I university attaining National Prominence since his arrival on campus was living at home and one day my mom called me and wondered in January 2000. Johns agrees and says the goal already has been where I'd been. I said I was at school and that I had been working out attained by some departments and programs on the campus. with Joe. She said, 'Well, Mrs. So-and-so called and said she saw "Recent studies bear out the fact that, to this day, the education you running down 8th Avenue with some big black guy chasing at Marshall is a great bargain for what you get. You can't beat that, you.' " dollar for dollar, with small class sizes and good professors. In a The truth is, Johns found it easy to fit in at Marshall and in lot of areas, Marshall has had National Prominence for years­ Huntington. "I was careful, but I never had any kind of race including journalism." confrontation that I can remember in my entire time there, on campus so PROFILES IN PROMINENCE PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 51 or off campus. It wasn't until I got out into the real world, working Performer" after one national championship meet. He and his in North Carolina, where (WSOC) assigned me to go to a Klan teammates have won several national championships in the "team rally and a Hell's Angels rally, that I encountered anything like throw" competition (shot put and discus) for GE at the U.S. that." Corporate Athletics Association's annual competition. The national In the classroom, Johns longed to be challenged. He might have championship meet takes place each July at various sites stayed out late at times, but once in class the focus was solely on throughout the country, most recently in west coast cities such as learning and preparing for life after graduation. "People who had the Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego. Joe also competes in other sense to take the hard courses and hard professors came away with an masters (athletes age 40 and over) track and field events. incredible education," he says. "I'd look at a class schedule, see what Nameth left Marshall before he had a chance to coach Johns. was easy and what was hard, and I'd take what was hard-the complex He was replaced by Rod O'Donnell, who coached Johns for four classes-because I thought it would be useful to me later. And it years-from 1976 through 1979-at Marshall. To this day, was. O'Donnell cherishes those times with Johns and his teammates, "Once I got in a habit of tackling things that were tedious and including standouts such as runners Joe Sassier and Damon Clark. complex, I was no longer intimidated by them. For example, one "Joe stands out as a very, very special person," O'Donnell of the watershed moments for me at Marshall was when I took a says. "I've been coaching for 32 years, and I've never had an course ... something like Political Science Research Methods ... athlete that I respected more than Joe. Sometimes, when you have a and it was applying scientific principles to political concepts. The great one like Joe, you don't appreciate them until they're gone. But I first few classes were on, 'How could you quantify charisma?' We knew Joe was special and I respected him throughout his career. It was said, 'Let's break it down.' Today it would be, 'Let's figure out how an honor to coach him." we measure and compare, say, the charisma of Eisenhower and Clinton.' O'Donnell remembers working overtime with Johns as Johns It was a very complex and difficult course. I learned a lot about polling practiced hard to improve his game-particularly the shot put. It might methods. People hated that course. I remember just diving into it, it have been 40 degrees, dark and raining in the dead of winter, and was so tedious and so complex. I really tried to get a lot out of my O'Donnell might have been shivering, but Johns would not quit. "I'd education at Marshall." say, 'Joe, we've gotta go in, I'm freezing!'" O'Donnell says. "He'd He did just that, despite an incredibly busy schedule. While say, 'Just one more, just one more.' Many nights we'd be out there and Derbyshire's true passion was the theater, Johns' was track and field. the only light was from the cars going by on 5th Avenue." Though he won four Southern Conference championships in the shot The effort clearly paid off as Johns became one of the great athletes put and discus-two indoor and two outdoor, he fell a little short of in Marshall track and field history. "I'll say this. Joe is one of the most achieving his dream. underrated athletes ever at Marshall, and I'd say that even if I was the "The one thing I wish is that I would have been an Olympic­ pinochle coach," O'Donnell said in a newspaper interview during Johns' caliber track athlete," Johns says. "I had such a passion for track. It senior season in 1979. A big factor in Johns' success, O'Donnell says, was exciting." It was so exciting that he took the sport up again a few was his competitive, yet controlled, spirit. "He was a great competitor­ years after leaving Marshall, and began throwing the shot and discus a fierce competitor, but with the most even temperament," competitively. Since the late, 1980's, Johns has been a member of O'Donnell says in a tone of admiration. "He was just really easy to the General Electric (parent company of NBC) Corporate Track coach. And he was a leader; the kids really respected him." and Field team, and was named the team's "Outstanding Field Event 52 PROFILES IN PROMINENCE PROFILES IN PROMINENCE 53

Johns says O'Donnell had a huge influence on his life. "He but there's another side beyond creating the illusion of life-there's was driven and blunt. He didn't mince words," Joe says of his life itself." former coach. "He also gave me a love for running. On the track O'Donnell explains Johns' success in simple terms. "People team, throwers don't necessarily run very much. They lift weights with talent like he has, they have gifts, they're not like other people," and throw, maybe do a few sprints for speed. But Rod insisted that he says. "They do things average people can't do." all the throwers run miles for fitness. I laughed at it then, but I did Even without the tremendous work ethic that accompanies the it. Thanks to him, I started running and kept running when I left talent, Johns likely would have been a success in his chosen field, Marshall." according to Derbyshire. "He's just so charming, he just sucks you Johns has even run in three Marine Corps marathons (26 miles, in," Derbyshire says. "He was running for mayor all the time. It's not 385 yards)-"slowly, but I finished," he says. "I do it for fitness and put-on, it's just his personality." mental health. So, Rod gave me a great gift, and I'm quite thankful." Simply put, O'Donnell says, "He's just Joe." In 1997, during a visit to Marshall, Johns advised a group of Johns is married to Michelle Bernard, a Washington attorney, Political Science students to run a marathon. "That is when you start and the couple recently celebrated the birth of their first child, son to understand what it takes to ascend within corporations," he said in Logan Christopher. They, along with a yellow Labrador named a story published in The Parthenon, Marshall's school newspaper. Marc Antony, live in Montgomery County, Maryland, about a 20- "Things are not always going to come to you quickly. Even though minute drive from Washington, D.C., and five minutes from the you are exhausted, you just have to keep plugging away until you get Potomac River. "It's in the country, basically," Johns says of his to the end. My advice may sound strange, but I have run in three home. marathons and there is no challenge like it." Joe is the current chairman of the Executive Board of the Johns had made the return to Marshall's campus in 1997 to lecture House/Senate Radio-Television Galleries, a member of the Board at the annual banquet of Pi Sigma Alpha political science honorary, at of Visitors of the Howard University School of Communications, Troy Stewart's request. "Someone asked me, 'How did you get Joe and a member of the board of the Society of Yeager Scholars Johns here?' "Stewart says. "I said, 'I just asked him.' Joe has always program at Marshall. He also is a member of several Halls of Fame, spoken highly of Marshall and he's been very gracious in supervising including the Buckeye Boys State in Ohio, the National Society of our interns (in Washington)." Arts and Letters (which awarded him an acting scholarship in 1980), Besides still competing in track and field, Johns enjoys bicycling, the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications photography, scuba diving (he's a certified advanced scuba diver) and at Marshall, and the Marshall Athletic Department. the beach. "Any beach," he says. It's been 24 years since O'Donnell coached Johns, although he­ Even before Johns graduated from Marshall, O'Donnell knew he along with millions of others-sees him often on NBC. Still, it's "was destined for great things. It was just a matter of whatever field he impossible for O'Donnell to see Johns on TV without thinking back to chose. Honestly, I thought he'd go into acting." their days together at Marshall. In 1979, shortly before graduating, Johns hinted that acting for a "I would absolutely love to see him," O'Donnell says of Joe. living was not what he planned on doing. "One thing very important "I've got a picture, one of my all-time favorite pictures, of Joe and to me is doing something practical and rewarding-beyond the Damon Clark and me, sitting on the infield at a high school meet. In aesthetic appeal of acting," he said then. "Theater is rewarding, that picture, I have my arms around both of them. It just captured the innocence of those days. That was the way it was supposed to be. 54 P R 0 F I L E S I N PR 0 M I N E N C E

"If a coach can really say he loves one of his former athletes, I can do that. I can honestly say that about Joe Johns." Chances are, Miss Gullas from Highland Elementary School would say the same thing. After all, she was the one who encouraged Joe to learn to speak in public. Miss Gullas' first name? Joe can't recall. Miss Gullas' message? Joe can't forget. And the world, including Marshall University, is forever grateful.

Dave Wellman is Director of Communications at Marshall University.