Leslie Johnson: Giant Among Her Peers
She was an all-conference player every year from ninth grade until her final college season
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
Ink Spot Contributor
“Unscripted" concludes with the second of this two-part commentary looking at the remarkable accomplishments of Fort Wayne legend Leslie Johnson.
Johnson came into Northrop High School from Northwood Middle School with skill, toughness that you couldn’t teach, and a maturity that belied her youth. She stood as a giant among her peers and was the best player on her team from 6th grade on but was not the type of person that promoted or brought attention to her play verbally, but instead allowed her talent to speak volumes.
Leslie entered Northrop as an unassuming freshman and left as one of the state's greatest basketball players, with 18 career records that stand a quarter-century later. In 1993 she exited Northrop with 2,045 points and 1,282 Rebounds. That same year she led Northrop to a 25-1 school record averaging 28.4 points per game, 14.1 rebounds while shooting an amazing 75.1 from the field. She led the Bruins to three sectional and regional titles and two semi-state final appearances. She became the first Bruin to become a four-time All-SAC team member, and in 1993 was voted USA Today 1st Team All-American, 1st team all-state, and scored a then Indiana record-breaking 29 points in the Indiana All-Star Game.
Leslie continued to an even more decorated career in college, signing to become a part of the Purdue Boilermakers basketball program in West Lafayette. In 1994 she was selected as the first freshman in Big Ten history to be named 1st team All-Big Ten. During her freshman season, she was named the team’s Most Valuable Player and led the Boilermakers to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 1994 averaging 18.5 points, and 9.1 rebounds per game that season, and was named the NCAA West Regional Most Outstanding Player.
Leslie set Purdue freshman records of 628 points, 243 field goals, 141 free throws, 308 rebounds, and 12 double-doubles (all of which still stand as of today). Leslie’s 308 rebounds remain the seventh single-season mark in scoring of all-time at Purdue, and her 243 field goals stand as the sixth-highest total ever.
After transferring to Western Kentucky, Leslie became a two-time first-team All-Sun Belt Conference player in 1997 and 1998 which completed a streak of being named first team all-conference in every full season of high school and college basketball she ever played.
Let that sink in for a minute before you read on.
Are you starting to get how dominant this young lady was? But wait, I’m not done! In 1997 Leslie would go on to lead Western Kentucky to the NCAA Sweet 16 with averages of 17.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and in 1998, helped the Hilltoppers win the Sun Belt Conference championship. She would become the first player in Western Kentucky history to score over 1,000 points in just two seasons of basketball with 1,079 points. Her senior year 628 points were the second-highest total ever by a Western Kentucky player!
After her collegiate career ended, Johnson went on to become the first player from Fort Wayne to play in the WNBA, when she played for the Washington Mystics in 1998. She would continue her career playing professional basketball overseas between 1998 and 2002, signing to teams in Greece, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Portugal, and Spain, before eventually retiring from basketball in 2002 after an 11-year playing career.
Leslie is currently an active member of the (NBRPA) National Basketball Retired Players Association, (exclusive to only former WNBA, NBA, and Harlem Globetrotter Players). And in 2017 was voted in by the NBRPA players, as the only female member to represent them in a group designated to create opportunities for former players, streamline budget initiatives, and establish better partnerships with the community.
She is also the owner of her own company Hushed No More, LLC, where she gives back to her community as a motivational and inspirational speaker and life coach.
Leslie, we applaud your accomplishments and look at you and Tiffany Gooden as the standard by which our current players should be measured. “Greatness Personified”, which describes Leslie Johnson, 2019 Indiana Hall of Fame inductee!