He supposedly owned a pitbull during his time at NIU, and as a youth, he was a bull rider on the junior rodeo circuit when his father was in the rodeo. It seemed as if 1994 NIU graduate LeShon Johnson had a love for animals.

Johnson’s 11-acre home seemed to have been a breeding ground for pitbulls where gambling took place on the outcome of the fights.

Johnson, 33, and 21 others were arrested in May.

“His hobby was dogs,” recalled NIU assistant basketball coach Donald Whiteside, who attended NIU at the same time as Johnson. “He loved animals, and that’s the reason he got such a large property. I liked him, and this doesn’t change the fact that he’s a good guy.”

Nicknamed “The Cowboy” for his time in the rodeo, there are many who will remember his historic days at NIU, where he finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting in his last season. There are those who will continue to look up to Johnson for when he overcame lymphoma cancer after seven chemotherapy treatments in 1998 and started for the New York Giants.

But to some, his image – if only a little – has been tarnished.

“I think some people will forget about the great things that he did on the football field,” said NIU quarterback Josh Haldi, who met Johnson when he came back to DeKalb in October 2003 to be inducted into NIU Athletics Hall of Fame. “But he’s in the hall of fame for the things he did on the football field.”

Johnson’s coach at NIU, Charlie Sadler – now a tight ends coach at Texas Tech – did not return messages concerning his former player.

Sadler’s six years in DeKalb were all losing seasons, but that doesn’t change the impact Johnson had both on the campus and the national football scene when he played from 1992-’93.

“You can make a case for him being the greatest running back in the school’s history,” said NIU’s Sports Information Director Mike Korcek. “LeShon did some amazing things. He was one of the top athletes to ever be at this school.”

Korcek and Whiteside both were inducted into the hall of fame at the same time as Johnson.

When Johnson was in DeKalb for the induction ceremonies, he talked about how he hoped to one day coach – hopefully at NIU.

“I’m thinking about getting into coaching or becoming a pro scout,” Johnson said at the time. “I hope that I can share what I know with others.”

Johnson played with the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants of the NFL and later the Chicago Enforcers of the XFL, where he finished his career in 2000.

Johnson still holds the Cardinals’ single-game rushing record with 214 yards in a game against New Orleans in 1996.

“He was fun to be around,” Whiteside remembers. “I’d see him at the Rec and I went over to his house one time. I think he had a pitbull back then.

“People thought he was kind of nerdy, but he was just a Southern Oklahoma guy. Great guy; a lot of charisma. He was a Cowboy; that was a perfect name for him.”