Bobby Joe Johnson was a star football player at Cherokee County High School in Centre, Alabama. He later played at Jacksonville State University, earning three letters between 1960-63. He was a team captain and voted to the All-Confernece team as a senior.

Johnson accepted his first head football coaching job at his alma mater in the fall of 1966 where he remained for the next 26 seasons.

The 1967 Warrior squad posted an 8-0-1 regular season. The next season, they went 8-1-0 and were ranked fifth in the new Class 3A alignment. They just missed the playoffs since only the top four teams qualified. Johnsons 1973 squad had a 10-0 regular season record. The team wound up finishing third in Class 3A.

His 1984 Warriors reached the AHSAA Championship Game before losing to T.R. Miller 20-18 in a great matchup for the title. During his time at Cherokee, the Warriors made the playoffs 14 times while capturing 11 area titles.

He ended his career in Alabama by rebuilding the Saks program from an 0-10 record the previous season to the state finals in four seasons. In 1996 Saks lost to a great Blount team 29-0 at Legion Field in the Super Six finals.

Coach Johnson moved over to Trion GA in 1999 for three seasons as the head football coach. His three year record was 20-14.

He was the state coach of the year twice and coached in the state all-star game in Tuscaloosa.

Johnsons overall football coaching record is 198-111-5 over the 30 seasons he spent as a head coach in Alabama. Combined in Georgia and Alabama his overall record is 218-125-5 over the course of 33 seasons.

He led 15 teams to the playoffs and his teams won 8 area and region championships during his career.

Johnson was named Coach of the Year by the Alabama Sports Writers in 1996. He is a member of the Cherokee County Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Associations Hall of Fame in 1999.