Profile of Keyshawn Johnson on Famous Like Me

Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a wide receiver for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys.

Johnson was the youngest of his mother's six children. While her other children lived with relatives, she and Keyshawn struggled to survive - even living in her car at one point - and the boy ran into trouble with the law.

However, by 1990 — after a stay at a reformatory camp and being the victim of a drive-by shooting that nearly ended his career — he had turned his life around, partly due to then-University of Southern California football head coach John Robinson. Robinson became a father-figure to Keyshawn, allowing him to hang out with the team, fetch balls and helmets, and carry things for the players. Johnson lettered in football and track at Dorsey High School, and was first-team all-state in football. After earning JC All-America honors at West Los Angeles College, USC offered him a scholarship.

Playing for Robinson, Johnson led the Trojans to wins in the Cotton Bowl and the Rose Bowl. He was drafted #1 overall on April 20, 1996 by the New York Jets. On April 12, 2000, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 2 first-round draft picks. Johnson signed a 6-year, $52 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL.

Johnson was key in Tampa Bay winning Super Bowl XXXVII, but, as in New York, his perceived haughty demeanor — often manifest in outrageous remarks — got him into trouble. In November 2003, head coach Jon Gruden took the unprecedented step of deactivating him for the remainder of the season after a sideline argument watched by millions on TV, leading to his being traded to the Cowboys for fellow wide receiver Joey Galloway on March 19, 2004, the deal reuniting him with Bill Parcells (he had already agreed to a four-year, $20-million deal with Dallas, but had to wait for Galloway to come to terms with the Buccaneers).

The situation with Tampa Bay got so notorious that Johnson's first name became a verb in sports talk radio. "Keyshawning" a player came to mean deactivating him while keeping him under contract. For example, on Pardon the Interruption in August 2005, this neologism was suggested as an option for the Philadelphia Eagles during their public squabbles with receiver Terrell Owens.

On October 3, 2004 he caused a considerable stir by characterizing a former Tampa Bay teammate, Ronde Barber, as an "Uncle Tom" while in the FOX broadcast booth during the Cowboys' bye week (it is a common practice for NFL players to make guest appearances on FOX's or NBC's pre-game show during the one week each regular season when the player's team does not play).

Johnson married Shikiri Hightower, whom he met at USC, on February 14, 1998. He divorced her in 2002. They have 2 children. Keyshawn is the cousin of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson.

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