Pitching doesn’t begin with your arm. It starts in your head and works inside out from there.
It’s a lesson Tod Johnson learned well in the late 1980s, when the former Husky Baseball pitcher represented the third generation of a family deeply dedicated to supporting UW Athletics.
“Once you learn the mental approach toward pitching, you can apply it to other aspects of your life,” says Tod, President of 87-year-old Lee Johnson Auto Family. “It’s around clarity of thought, starting broadly and working down to the minute details. That works in baseball and it works in life.”
Tod’s grandparents graduated from the UW in the late 1920s and his maternal great grandparents started buying season football tickets in 1927. Grandpa LeRoy Johnson, unable to find work in the Great Depression, agreed to put sweat equity into a partnership for a car dealership in Kirkland.
Tod ticks off special childhood Husky memories one after another. Watching renowned quarterback Sonny Sixkiller. Driving through fraternity row during homecoming with his father, Leroy, who also played baseball for the Huskies. Taking an RV to the Rose Bowl and staying up until the wee hours playing football between rows of parked vehicles. Sailgating on Saturdays and rafting from boat to boat.
But perhaps the most enduring and impactful memory is of his family’s commitment to community. Tod’s grandfather helped charter a Rotary Club and start a Little League in Kirkland. He also helped fund the community pool and donated vehicles for the school’s driver training program.
“Grandpa’s philosophy was that the most effective way to strengthen your business is to strengthen the community around your business,” Tod notes.
His father learned the lesson well. He was a founding member of the Dawg Dealer program, which provides cars to Husky coaches and Athletic Department executive staff.
Tod’s dad also taught him that the family legacy of giving isn’t solely financial. So, he also gives of his time, mentoring student-athletes through the Boundless Futures program.
And one of his favorite topics is talking about the mental approach to pitching and to life.
