RC was born seven of fourteen children in rural Mississippi, at a time when education for "Negro" children was not thought to be important. His parents thought differently, enlisting certified teachers to teach their children as they entered the eighth grade. They were so successful that all fourteen of their children went on to earn college diplomas - earning them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records (1987) as the family with the most number of college graduates!.

RC later went on to earn a PhD. in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota. A nationally known educator, Dr. Johnson prefers to be addressed as "R-C."

RC's son, also called R.C., is currently a PhD. candidate at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, in computer science. He is also a world class Greco Roman wrestler training at the U.S. Olympic center as he pursues his advanced degree. In 2008, he missed representing the U.S. at the Olympics by the narrowest of margins. "He's going to try again in 2012" remarked his proud father after his son returned from the Beijing Olympics in August.

1) Youre getting your doctorate in Computer Science. How did you get interested in that?
When I was in high school, one of my buddies was really into stuff like that. You know young people and their computer hacking - kids doing dumb stuff and playing around on their computer. We didnt have any classes like that in my high school, so I sort of lost interest, but computer science was always interesting to me. When I got to college, I was thinking about either doing a psychology or economics major, but then they had Computer Science courses, so I took one, and I loved it. I ended up doing a computer science major with a double minor in math and economics.

2) What was has been your favorite and least favorite class that you have taken in school?
My favorite class was either ‘Design Analysis of Algorithms’ or a programming class. My least favorite class was probably - I don’t know. I just really like classes. If I had to choose my least favorite, I guess I’d pick my theatre class in undergrad, just because it was really boring.

3) How did you get started in wrestling?
Well in high school, I wrestled. When I first got in high school, one of the older wrestlers came up to me and told me I have to join the wrestling team, so I joined, and it was fun. I had a decent wrestling career in high school. Then I started going to Greco-Roman tournaments with some of my teammates, and I really liked that kind of wrestling. I got on the men’s junior national team, and I went to Fargo that year as an All-American. Gordy Morgan [coach of the U.S. Olympic Education Center (USOEC) Greco-Roman wrestling team] saw me, gave me some papers to fill out about being a part of the USOEC Greco-Roman resident program at Northern Michigan University, but I really didn’t think much about it. I was actually signed up to go to Augsburg College, which is a Division-III private school in Minnesota. I sent in my acceptance letter to Augsburg, registered for classes on like a Saturday, got a call from Gordy on the following Tuesday, saying, “You’re in the program. If you want to come, we have a spot for you. It’s a full-ride.” So, I thought, “Okay.” That was on a Tuesday, and I was in Michigan on Saturday. I just packed up my stuff and left. I cancelled all my classes with Augsburg from Michigan, and that’s where it all began.

4) Did anyone in your family wrestle?
No, my dad was a farmer and my mom is a preacher. They were both educators, too. My dad retired, but he was a principal and my mom was a teacher.

5) Is that what inspires you in terms of your schooling?
Yeah, I’m working on my doctorate right now. I just want to beat them. [Laughs] My mom got her master’s degree, but she didn’t get her PhD because she had my sister and me. Then my dad got his doctorate. So I have to beat him. I’ll probably get my doctorate and maybe another master’s degree and then another doctorate just to beat him, just to be like, “Ha-ha, I got you!”

6) Why did you choose Greco-Roman over freestyle wrestling?
It’s just better. Greco is all upper-body wrestling. There’s no attacking the legs, foot sweeps or pulling your knees out from under you. In high school, they always took shots at your legs. I never really was into that sort of thing. I almost didn’t want to do Greco because there are so many throws, and it seemed like there was more potential to get hurt. When I actually learned how to do it, I was like, “Wait a minute, I like this a lot.”

7) What is your training like?
Usually, wake up and then there is practice. I work during the day followed by a second practice. Then I work again at night. Sometimes I have class in there, too. I work over at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs doing computer science research for one of the professors.

8) What has been your proudest moment in your career?
I won the Sunkist Tournament finally in 2005. I had won second like two years in a row, which kind of pissed me off. [Laughs] Being on the national team now is pretty cool, too. When I was over in France this year for the Cristo Lutte Championships, I did pretty well and got third. That was a nice moment for me because there was no one to really yell at me. Sometimes when you go as a team to tournaments, there is always someone to yell at you and tell you what to do. I went over there with Steffi Murata because she was going over there to compete, but didn’t want to go by herself. So I ended up doing some tournaments while I was over there with her, and I ended up doing pretty well. I was really happy, and it was a big learning opportunity for me.

9) Do you have any pre-match rituals?
When I wrestled in Michigan, you always have to weigh in before your match, so I always used to have the same crazy meal. I didn’t realize I did that until a year into it. I would always have beef, chicken and pork in my meal. I would have all three in my meal, but I don’t do that anymore. I don’t really do anything now in terms of rituals. I just try to act like it’s another day.

10) What is the hardest part about wrestling?
Probably just the day-in and day-out grind of training is the toughest. It’s a sport where the two months of practice prior to a tournament makes a big difference. You can’t just jump in and expect to win everything. You have to train for years. Wrestling is one of those sports that if you take a week off that’s a huge step back in your training. Sometimes you need that break for recovery, but if you do take a week off, you may be three weeks behind. So for me the hardest part is that it is every day. You learn to get used to it and enjoy it, but the daily grind is still rough.

11) What is your favorite part about being at the Olympic Training Center?
I like being around a bunch of people with a common goal. Everyone here is from a different walk of life, different background, different interest, different education, but there is still a commonality that brings everyone together, which is very cool.

12) What do you think you have to do to make sure you get to compete in Beijing in 2008?
I need to just keep training, get my focus and know what is important and what is not. If I keep on the right course, then there should be no problem.

13) Who is your sports hero?
I’ve never been big on heroes just in the general sense. My dad is probably my biggest hero, but other than that, I never really had heroes growing up. I’ve never had that person who I aspire to be like because I’d rather be that person that people aspire to be like. I figure that everyone is human, and everyone does what they do. God gives them talent, and they use it. It’s like why look to the person? Look to the person who gave them the talent.

14) What has been your favorite place that you traveled to for competition?
I have quite a few favorites. Different country would probably be Poland. I’ve been there a couple of times. The year I first went, they hosted the University World Games. Almost every weight class from Northern Michigan went, so we pretty much swept the tournament. Because the whole team went, and we were all buddies who had been training together for a long time, it was basically like they took us and put us in a new place with all new people around us. It was a lot of fun to go out and explore the city with everyone.

15) What does R.C. stand for?
Raoul Christopher. I’ve been called R.C. forever. R.C. is my dad’s actual name, so I just stole it.

16) How hard is it to balance pursuing your doctorate and wrestling?
The long and the short of it is that it’s really hard. It’s understandable, though, because it’s the coaches’ jobs to get you on an Olympic team, put you on that podium and get medals for your country. They don’t care about school, personal life and all that fun stuff. A couple of times, I’ve found them very uncompromising about that, but, at least for me, my professors have been very forgiving and are willing to bend the schedules. The professor I do research for is also my advisor, so I’ve been able to make my own work schedule and come and go when I need to. I’m usually at work until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., but I’m able to get it done.

17) What invention would you like to see in your lifetime?
There are so many that need to be invented. Well, I’m working on a bunch of stuff right now, but that doesn’t count for this. [Laughs] Something like a light-speed travel would be fun.

18) If you could go back five years and tell a younger version of yourself something, what would it be?
Wow, let’s see. Where would I have been? I would have been a sophomore in college. Maybe, “Keep up the good work, baby!” [Laughs]

19) Finish the sentence: In high school, I was the…..
I was the everything. I had friends in every social group. I had friends in the math club. I almost joined the math club, but I didn’t have any time. I was in the school plays, on the football team and captain of the wrestling team. I was even in the “Future Problem Solvers” club. Plus, I did weightlifting. Anything I could get my hands on, I did.

20) What is the best wrestling advice you ever received?
Basically, to not worry about what everyone else says or what everyone else thinks, just do what you need to do to get better. It’s funny because all the guys that are on top and stay on top do not listen to the extra chatter or the “advice” that everyone gives. They just do it. When they’re tired, they take a break. If they get yelled at, they get yelled at. They do what they want to do and don’t worry about other people.

Image Gallery: R.C. Johnson
The administrator's son.

Image Gallery: U.S. Nationals
Lorenzo Peterson (right), a 211.2-pound division Greco-Roman wrestler, grapples with his opponent, R.C. Johnson during a match at the 2005 U.S. Nationals Wrestling tournament.(U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert W. Valenca)

Image Gallery: R.C. Johnson
With his award.