Johnson was well known amongst players and fans for his enthusiasm and unflappable optimism, immortalized through his famous catchphrase "It's a great day for hockey!"
In 1956, he and Ken Johannson were hired by Warroad High School in northwestern Minnesota as teachers and coaches of the boys' hockey team. They had previously been roommates at the University of North Dakota, and neither knew the other was hired to run the team.[2] He later coached hockey at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. He would teach his history class using a hockey stick as a pointer to the chalkboard. Johnson became the head hockey coach at Colorado College in 1963.
In 1966, Johnson moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was head coach until 1982. He led the Badgers to seven NCAA tournaments, winning three championships in 1973, 1977, and 1981. It was at Wisconsin where Johnson earned the nickname, "Badger Bob."
Johnson also coached the 1976 Winter Olympic hockey team, the 1981, 1984, and 1987 U.S. teams in the Canada Cup tournament, and the 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1981 U.S. national teams.
In August 1991, as he was preparing the U.S. team for the upcoming Canada Cup tournament, Johnson suffered a brain aneurysm[3] and was hospitalized, where he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He was then flown on a private plane to Colorado with Dr. Dan Thompson of Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. He began treatment and turned the day-to-day supervision of the Penguins over to his three assistant coaches and Scotty Bowman, the team's director of player development and recruitment, who was named interim head coach.[4][5][6] Though the team was "coached by committee", Johnson continued to oversee them from his hospital room by way of videotape and remained in contact by fax machine.[7]
On November 26, 1991, Johnson died of brain cancer in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[8][9] After his death, his catchphrase was emblazoned on a banner hanging over the ice at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was painted at the bluelines on the ice in Pittsburgh's Civic Arena. In memoriam, it remained on the ice there for the remainder of the season. In addition, Penguins players would wear a patch on the left sleeve of their jerseys with the word "BADGER" under his birth and death years. Pittsburgh also put his name on the Stanley Cup a second time after their second straight Cup victory in 1992. "He's such a tremendous person...We would like to win it again for him,"[10] said Mark Recchi, a member of the team in 1991.
At the team's 1992 victory celebration at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Bowman's first remark was that "the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins will always be – Bob Johnson".[11]
The team used "A Great Day For Hockey" as their marketing slogan for the 2008–09 season. On June 12, 2009, exactly 19 years to the day of Johnson's hiring, the Pittsburgh Penguins won their third Stanley Cup. Furthermore, the Penguins won their fourth Stanley Cup, 26 years to the day that Johnson was hired, on June 12, 2016. "A Great Day For Hockey" now adorns the entrance of the PPG Paints Arena, the current home arena of the Penguins.[citation needed]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
Johnson is also the father of 1980 Olympic hockey gold medalist and current Wisconsin women's hockey coach Mark Johnson and former Wisconsin assistant coach and Toronto Maple Leafs scout Peter Johnson. He is the grandfather of former Wisconsin hockey player Patrick Johnson, former Denver Pioneer hockey player Scott McConnell, Augsburg College men's assistant hockey coach Chris Johnson, women's hockey player Mikayla Johnson, and women's soccer player Meghan Johnson.[citation needed]
Johnson umpired baseball games in Minnesota with fellow hockey coach Dave Peterson.[12]
