Mark Johnson is back in the booth for his third decade as CU’s play-by-play man, but it’ll be a while until he’s back in the saddle.
The cowboy who wears many hats as a broadcaster, outdoorsman and minister fractured his pelvis a month ago in an injury during team roping practice. The incident came on July 30, Johnson’s 57th birthday, and he’s been slowly rehabbing since.
“The saddle horn hit my pelvic bone and popped my pelvis,” Johnson said. “They call it the open book — it just popped wide open. My first thought was, ‘That didn’t feel good.’ My second thought was, ‘I’ve lost my legs,’ which meant I couldn’t ride because I couldn’t squeeze the horse anymore. So I pushed myself off, went down, and broke some ribs on my right side.”
He’s now back on his feet, albeit with the aid of a walker or crutches. Johnson has titanium screws and a plate in his pelvis, and doctors tell him it’ll be another few weeks before he can walk by himself, four months before he can get back on a horse, and about 10 months until he can go back to team roping.
Johnson, who competes in local amateur jackpot rodeos, is eager to resume heading and heeling. He’s been competing in the sport for about five years, and in his last competition before his injury, he took third at the Park County Fair in Fairplay.
“I’ve had a number of friends and acquaintances after my accident that advised me (to stop team roping),” Johnson said with a laugh, “but I certainly plan on getting back into it when the doctors clear me to do it again.”
That’s just how Johnson is, a man who’s long been defined by a Western way of life since growing up on a farm in North Dakota.
Johnson played college basketball for a couple of years at Minot State before a career-ending back surgery, and he eventually graduated from the University of North Dakota. For the last 18 years, he’s lived on a five-acre plot in Evergreen, where he has three horses — Amigo, Josey Wales and Rose.
He and his wife, Susan — Miss North Dakota 1989 — are passionate about their Christian faith, and Johnson is a frequent speaker at religious conferences, churches and men’s groups around the area. And when he’s not broadcasting (he’s also the voice of CU men’s basketball), rodeoing or spreading the gospel, he’s bird hunting and fly fishing.
“We got to Colorado 20 years ago and fell in love with it and all that it represents,” Johnson said. “When I have my offseason, and my outdoor activities and my involvement with horses, team roping is a great hobby for me to have that balances me out. Because once we get to August, football takes off, and I’m hyper-focused on football and basketball for eight months.”
Johnson also has three grown children, one of whom, 27-year-old Jake, lives with him and his wife. Jake was born with hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain. That resulted in brain damage at birth, and Johnson says his son’s medical adversity throughout life altered his family’s perspective and gratitude.
“I’m a great man of faith,” Johnson said, “… and Jake is a big focus of that because we’ve needed guidance and help raising him, and guiding him and caring for him, and developing the patience that comes along with that and having great faith.”
While Johnson continues to lean on that faith in all aspects of his life, he also hasn’t lost belief that the Buffaloes can do something special under second-year head coach Deion Sanders. Johnson points out that in his first two decades at the mic of CU football, there’s only been one magical season, the 2016 “Rise is Real” campaign that culminated in 10 wins and a Pac-12 South title.
The first step to getting on that upward trajectory is on Thursday at Folsom Field: Beating what Johnson describes as a “quality, physical, extremely well-coached football team” in North Dakota State that he grew up watching as a Division II powerhouse.
Since becoming a Division I FCS school 20 years ago, the Bison continued their dominance, with nine FCS national championships. NDSU is 9-4 against FBS opponents, including 6-1 in its last seven.
“I just want to see Colorado football have great success,” Johnson said. “It’s time. This fanbase deserves a team that is relevant from start to finish, is in bowl conversation early, is in conference championship conversation. That’s what I’m hoping for, because it’s a lot more fun for me to call those games.”
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