There are families that live and breathe Auburn.
Skip Johnston, former Auburn University punter and co-owner of J&M Bookstore, was raised in one of those families.
Skip was born and raised in Auburn. Skip’s mother was Miss Auburn in 1949 and met Skip’s father while attending Auburn University.
Skip is married to Glenda Johnston and has three children. Their two daughters are currently attending Auburn, and their son is attending Auburn High School.
After graduating from Auburn High School, Skip was offered positions on college baseball teams and football teams.
He signed with Auburn football in 1975, coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan’s last year, as a punter. Skip lettered 1977–79, under coach Doug Barfield.
“There’s nothing like game days, and there is definitely nothing like running out of the tunnel in Jordan-Hare,” Skip said. “It’s just hard to explain to people that haven’t experienced it.”
Skip said he still keeps in touch with some of the team from his time as a punter. At the time, Auburn had a talented offensive team, Skip said.
“I’m still close with a lot of my old teammates,” Skip said. “Some of them stopped by the store on A-Day to catch up.”
After graduating from Auburn in 1981 with a degree in education, he moved away to play professional football for the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and Houston Oilers.
“It was an interesting experience for an Auburn grad to take on the pros,” Skip said.
According to Skip, his time with the Seattle Seahawks stood out to him because of the team members.
During his time in Houston, there were many of changes because of Oail Andrew Phillips, commonly known as Bum Phillips, leaving the Oilers.
“I was good enough to make it into the pros, but I was basically the guy they brought in to kinda push the veterans,” Skip said. “Nonetheless, it was a great experience; I met a lot of great guys.”
Skip said being given the opportunity to play professional football is an amazing experience.
After years of playing football on many levels, Skip found teamwork was necessary in every element of his life, whether on the field or behind a counter selling Auburn bumper stickers.
Skip said leaving football to come back and work for the family business, J&M Bookstore, was a difficult adjustment in the beginning. J&M has been around since 1953.
He said over the years he has come to realize what a great town Auburn is and how crucial the University is to the community. Hard work is another lesson Skip took from his time on the field that played a part in his role with the business.
“In 1984, I came back to J&M and was blessed to be able to come back to the job and my family,” Skip said.
Skip and his brother Trey Johnston are now the owners of J&M. They manage the two Auburn locations.
Trey took on the business before Skip, but loves the opportunity he has to work with his brother now.
“It is wonderful to work with (Skip),” Trey said. “We have trust, we both think a lot alike, we were raised alike and I can’t think of working with anyone else.”
According to Trey, “Skip’s biggest fan,” the Auburn “Boom it!” cheer was first heard in Jordan-Hare with Skip’s name stuck smack-dab in the middle of it.
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