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Keith Johnston – Hall of Honor 2018: Keith Johnston was born in Toronto, Ontario Canada on April 4, 1949. His family moved to Calgary, Alberta when he was 4 years old and to Dallas, Texas in 1960. Keith attended W. T. White HS in Dallas and started at offensive guard for the Longhorns all three years he played. He graduated in 1967 and he and two of his high school teammates enrolled at Austin College and showed up for football practice in the fall of 1967. Keith became the Kangaroos starting offensive left guard 4 games into his freshman season and held onto the starting roll for the entire four years of his AC career. He was elected to be one of the team co-captains in 1970 and was named to the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s All Texas College team that same year, along with three of his team mates. Keith earned his BA in Economics upon graduation in 1971.
After graduating from AC, Keith moved north to Canada and enrolled in the MBA program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Since the Canadian university system allows athletes five years of varsity eligibility, Keith was able to play for the McMaster football team. He became the team’s starting right guard on their offensive line and helped McMaster earn a spot in the Ontario University playoffs. At the end of the season, Keith was selected to one of the first team guard positions on the very first Canadian Interuniversity Sports All Canada football team. Three of Keith’s McMaster teammates went on to careers in the CFL and one of his teammates enjoyed a five-year career as a goalie in the National Hockey League.
Upon receiving his MBA in 1973, Keith moved to Houston and began his career in consulting, working for Arthur Andersen & Co., one of the world’s largest professional services firms. His career as a management consultant spanned three decades and included partnerships with both Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, as well as executive positions with Computer Sciences Corporation and Landmark Graphics, a division of Halliburton. While at Landmark, Keith built and ran a 360-person global professional services organization with offices in a dozen countries.
In 2001 Keith started his own consulting and training business and has been coaching and training people in leadership skills ever since. In 2009, Keith and his wife Sylvia moved to Vernon, British Columbia, where Keith helps coach football at Vernon Secondary school, leads projects for the Silver Star Rotary club and attends Living Word Lutheran church with Sylvia.
Keith has one daughter, Caitlin. Caitlin graduated summa cum laude from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and now works as a tour guide and professional speaking coach in Boston, Massachusetts.
Keith has published three books, including a book on leadership; “A Garage Full of Ferraris”, and a book chronicling the lives and careers of the 24 players selected to the first All Canada University Football team; “The End Comes Quick – Lessons live on.”
