Globe-trotter : St. Francis’ Johnson Has Seen World, but Hasn’t Lost Sight of Career Goals

LA CANADA — Anthony Johnson, a senior forward for St. Francis High, has spent summers in Jamaica and visited Alaska during winter.

So, he knows what he likes when it comes to climate.

“I really prefer it warm,” said Johnson, who visits his extended family in Jamaica annually. “It was 20 degrees in Alaska and we were outside playing basketball. It was freezing.”

Yet Johnson, one of the region’s top scorers and rebounders, is willing to brave the cold, give up basketball and stop globe-trotting if it means being able to attend the University of Pennsylvania and study medicine.

A career in plastic surgery, not professional basketball, is where the 6-foot-2 Johnson plans to channel his efforts. Nor is he interested in a job in show business.

Johnson’s father, Anthony Sr., is president of the Reggae Sunsplash music tour. Johnson has often traveled with his father, seeing more of the world than most teenagers.

But he has never lost sight of his desire to study medicine or his fascination with cosmetic surgery.

“I know I don’t want to be a general practitioner,” Johnson said. “[Cosmetic surgery] just seems interesting to me.”

An exceptional student at St. Francis, a parochial school in La Canada, Johnson decided before the season to apply to Penn rather than pursue an athletic scholarship.

“He’s really a good student,” said John Jordan, St. Francis’ basketball coach. “The kind of kid we like to have at St. Francis.”

Johnson, an All-Mission League selection as a junior, is averaging 20.1 points and 11.4 rebounds. He has been an all-tournament selection three times this season and has turned a few games into personal showcases.

Johnson scored 40 points in a double-overtime loss to Muir in the La Canada tournament. He’s also had games of 32, 30 and 29, which he accomplished twice.

Johnson has been slowed slightly by a hyperextended knee suffered two weeks ago. He missed one game and scored only eight points in another. St. Francis (12-8, 3-3 in the Mission League) plays host to Loyola (7-11, 2-3) tonight at 7.

“I don’t know if he’s 100% yet, but he’s headed back in that direction,” Jordan said. “We’ve missed him, especially his presence in the middle.”

Johnson characterizes himself as an overachiever and takes a realistic view of his basketball talents.

“I’m only 6-2,” he said. “Guys at Division I schools are 6-8. I could probably play at a good Division II school.”

He hasn’t ruled out walking on at Penn, or wherever he winds up. But he says he’s more likely to wind up shooting baskets outdoors, preferably under bright sunshine.

“Basketball, I just go out and have fun,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me how much I score. As long as we win.”