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Chuck Johnson is a distinguished sports writer for USA TODAY and a career journalist whose foundation was a result of the experience he received as a State News writer during each of his four years at Michigan State University. A 1975 MSU graduate, Johnson rose up the ranks at The State News, first covering men's soccer and men's track and field before becoming the lead writer for football and men's basketball.

His State News writing assignments included the historic 16-13 Spartan football upset over then-No. 1-ranked Ohio State in 1974. Johnson, now 53, was the only African-American on The State News' sports desk during his tenure and may have been the first in the paper's history.

He covered baseball for 18 years for USA TODAY, including the World Series each of those years. Most recently, he has been the paper's boxing writer, and has also written about professional football and basketball. Prior to his USA TODAY stint, he wrote sports at the Flint Journal for nearly 13 years.

He is one of the few African-American journalists to have a Baseball Hall of Fame vote, having been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He is also the founding chapter president of the former Mid-Michigan Association of Black Journalists and a long-time member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

In 2000, he was named Sports Journalist of the Year by the NABJ Sports Task Force, on which he served on the executive board as sergeant at arms. He also played himself in the recent movie, "Rocky Balboa."