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Dave Johnson may not be among the flashiest area directors with National Scouting Report, but he is one of its most dedicated. When the calendar flips to 2016, Johnson will be celebrating his 20th anniversary with NSR in Daytona Beach, Fla.
You will never meet a nicer guy. His kind demeanor and approach have formed the foundation for his success. Always within reach of his prospects and families, Johnson, 63, has been guiding high school student-athletes through the college recruiting process longer than most scouting organizations have existed.
Hailing from the small town of Van Wert, Ohio, tucked in the Northwest corner of the state, Johnson was one of the area’s top high school shortstops. Upon graduating from Van Wert High, he enrolled in Florida Southern College in Lakeland. A backup shortstop for the talented Moccasins, Johnson was a member of the baseball squad which won the NCAA’s first Division II national title in 1971. Playing ahead of Johnson was Greg Pryor, who was the first Florida Southern player to make it to the major leagues.
Johnson’s college baseball career was cut short by bursitis in his throwing shoulder. He continued on as a student, earning a B.S. degree in Accounting in 1974.
A few years later, Johnson went to work for a company selling point-of-sale systems to restaurants. But after 18 years on the road, he was bored with the work and eager to enter another field. In a matter of days, a newspaper ad for NSR college scouts in the Daytona Beach newspaper caught his eye.
While watching an American Legion baseball tournament, Johnson ran into one of his former college coaches. He asked the coach if he had heard of NSR. The coach said he had and thought the job was worth pursuing.
The next day, Johnson called Florida state director Sam Janowiz in Miami. So intrigued was Johnson following their conversation that the next day he flew to Miami to meet Janowiz. After only three hours, Johnson walked away from the interview as the new area director overseeing Daytona Beach to Orlando.
“I was sold on the [NSR] system,” Johnson recalled. “I would have given anything to get some exposure coming out of my small-town high school in Ohio. I just knew that if I chose the right prospects and presented how NSR could connect them to college coaches that I could be very successful.”
During his NSR career, Johnson has covered nearly every NCAA sport and has helped place more than 300 prospects with colleges. Highly regarded as one of the wisest go-to scouts in NSR, Johnson can be counted on to offer sage advice to any inexperienced or struggling scout.
“One of the many things I enjoy about NSR is the relationship we have with other scouts and the various ways we can communicate with one another,” Johnson said.
Johnson has seen NSR go through a lot of changes in his 19-plus years. When he started, for instance, high tech wasn’t something readily associated with recruiting services.
“NSR has changed dramatically since I started,” Johnson said. “We did everything by U.S. mail. E-mail had not taken off yet and the Internet was only on dial-up with blazing fast 2,400-baud modems. Today, that would be really slow. We didn’t have cell phones, but some of us did have what was called bag phones. And we carried VCR tapes in our bags to use for in-home presentations, that is, if families had a VCR player.”
Johnson believes all the new scouting technology is great for his NSR prospects, but he still relies on his proven methods.
“Scouting and evaluating talent is the heartbeat of National Scouting Report,” Johnson said. “The athletes see us at their events. The parents see us. And the coaches see that we only talk to athletes that are legitimate college prospects. An athlete can either play at the next level or he can’t. And you can’t determine that while sitting at a computer or over the telephone. Seeing an athlete perform in person, watching his or her competitiveness and how he or she gets along with coaches and teammates are key to properly assessing a prospect.
“I’m the kind of guy who tells athletes and their parents exactly where they stand from my point of view. Even if I run into an athlete who thinks he or she can play at a higher level, I talk as honestly as I can about where they fit. When a prospect realizes that it’s the coaches who decide where she belongs and not her, her parents or me, then reality starts to sink in. For instance, if we have promoted her exclusively to D-I schools at her request and none have responded, that’s a clear sign she belongs in a lower division. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but time is too precious in recruiting for them to waste it hoping a D-I program will suddenly knock on her door.”
Johnson should know. He has placed prospects at every level of college athletics.
Johnson has genuine affection for his former prospects. Last spring he and his wife drove nearly six hours and 400 miles to watch a former softball prospect, Katie Szupelo, who played four years for Coker College in Hartsville, S.C., step on the field for her final game.
Reminiscing about the trip, Johnson recalled: “Katie’s last at-bat was a single. Then she stole second, third and, for the first time ever, stole home to put her team in the lead. I cried like she was my own kid. I had worked with her giving pitching lessons and hitting since she was a freshman in high school.”
Johnson said he is very proud of his former prospects. “I have had several college coaches, a couple of doctors, even had my first kid of a former NSR client go thru the [NSR] program last year,” Johnson boasted.
This type of dedication, service and attachment to his prospects have paid dividends for him. Many of the NSR prospects with whom Johnson works come from referrals.
“To me, this isn’t work,” he said. “It is a joy to be a part of so many young people’s lives and to watch them grow and become productive citizens.”
National Scouting Report is dedicated to finding scholarship opportunities for athletes who possess the talent, desire, and motivation to compete at the collegiate level. We’ve helped connect thousands of athletes with their perfect college.