March 25, 2008
Former TCU great Johnny L. Collins II made a name for himself as both an outstanding leader and as the Western Athletic Conference's top quarter-miler during his time at TCU. His duties included the open quarter and as anchor leg for the prolific 4x400 meter relay team during his four-year collegiate career.
Collins was an outstanding dual sport athlete before stepping foot on the TCU campus. He played football and ran track at Fort Worth's Wyatt High School. He made an immediate impact for the Flyin' Frogs when he ran the anchor leg on TCU's 4x400 meter relay unit in both the indoor and outdoor seasons as a true freshman.
Collins was awarded many honors before his Horned Frog career was over. He won back-to-back WAC Outdoor 400-meter titles, was on seven WAC championship relay teams, earned All-America honors all four years and anchored the Frogs' 4x400 relay unit to the 2000 NCAA Indoor Title. He also established the WAC 400-meter dash record with a time of 46.26.
GoFrogs.com recently sat down with the former National Champion to discuss what he has been up to since his days as a Flyin' Frog.
What did you enjoy the most about TCU?
"What I enjoyed most about TCU are the relationships with friends and people. They are all like family to me now. When you spend four years being around a group of people, it's important that you share common bonds of not only your particular sport, but also true friendships. My teammates and I were able to enjoy great success on the track during our tenures at TCU, but more importantly these days, the same people are truly my best friends and experiencing great success with family and in life."
What was it about TCU that prepared you most for the rest of your life?
"The people of TCU are great. TCU helped shaped my "GET IT DONE" attitude about life."
Why did you choose to attend TCU?
"I'll never forget the night my father and I were watching the news and Dale Hansen said that I had to be crazy for turning down the opportunity to play Division I football for a top 25 team and attending TCU. What he didn't know is that I grew up in Ryan Place, which is less than a mile or so from TCU. As far back as my days at Lily B. Clayton Elementary School, I remember wanting to attend TCU. When I was at Mclean Middle School we use to sneak into Amon Carter Stadium and play football. These are memories that I'll never forget. TCU was an easy choice for me. I didn't even take an official visit to the school before I signed because I already knew everybody. Plus TCU has always been home for me and being close to my family has always been important in my life. Unfortunately, during my senior year of college my father died from cancer and that created a tough situation for my family and I. When my Horned Frog family became aware of my father's demise the love and compassion that was shown to my family was overwhelming and to this day a little emotional. It's something that I'll never forget. I came to TCU because of the people."
Do you still follow TCU Track and Field?
"Yes, I'm a Flyin' Frog for life. I haven't done as good of a job as I would like getting to know the current guys, but I definitely know what's going on. Coach Anderson walked into a tough situation. I had the privilege of talking with him a couple of days after he was here at TCU and he was definitely a freshman at heart. I think he has done a splendid job, especially when you consider this is really his first year with all his scholarships in play. He was successful at Kentucky, he was successful at Arizona State and I believe he's already made it clear that he will be successful at TCU."
What do you remember about TCU?
"I really enjoyed my time at TCU. I ran with the greatest 4x100 team of all-time and people who I consider to be some of the best runners TCU has ever seen. Guys like Brian Howard, Kim Collins, Jarmiene Hollaway, Syan Williams, Roy Williams, Khadevis Robinson and the list goes on and on. I'll stand with anybody and proudly say that during my time at TCU we had a collection of talent that may never be assembled again. With all that said, I feel like my biggest accomplishment took place in practice. It was always important to me that the team took practice seriously. That way when we got to the meet it was show time because the foundation was laid in practice. I can remember specifically the day that our coach told us he was going to divide our practices into two groups because it was too competitive and he was afraid someone was going to get hurt. I always felt like we were football players, who only ran track."
What does your National Championship mean to you?
"What I pride myself most about that National Championship is that we were all Texans. Not only that, but Kendrick Campbell and I grew up together in Fort Worth. Roy Williams is from Clarendon and Anthony Amantine is from Houston. We all took a lunch box approach to the way we would compete and that was just too out work the competition. For most of our time together that's what we did."
What do you currently do?
"I'm a Financial Advisor with Merrill Lynch at the downtown Fort Worth office. I was blessed to have a friend in John Mckenzie, who is a former coach at TCU, but now a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch. He has been a great mentor to me and is just another example of how good the TCU family has been."
