Collins H. Johnston

Collins Hickey Johnston (August 29, 1859 – December 29, 1936) was an American football player, medical doctor, surgeon, and civic leader in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan where he played college football for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team, the first football team to represent the University of Michigan.

Early years Johnston was born at Detroit, Michigan, in 1859. He received his preparatory education at Amherst, Massachusetts, and at Ann Arbor High School. He enrolled in the literary department at the University of Michigan in approximately 1877 and received a bachelor's degree in 1881. He received his doctor of medicine degree there in 1883. While studying at Michigan, Johnston also played at the halfback position for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team, the first football team to represent the University of Michigan. He also played for the 1880 team. He was also the vice president of the Student Athletic Association. He established a medical practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in August 1887. Johnston regularly published papers in medical journals, examples of which include the following: "A Case of Acute Inflammation of the Middle Ear - Extensive Mastoid Caries, Without Local Signs of Inflammation or Pyemia - Death," Transactions of the Michigan State Medical Society, 1892. "Puerperal Eclampsia: Report of Eight Cases," Transactions of the Michigan State Medical Society, 1896. "Diagnosis of Typhoid Fever," The Clinical Review, November 1898. "The Diagnosis of Typhoid Fever," Physician and Surgeon: A Professional Medical Journal, December 1898. "Some Eminent Physicians of Ancient Times," Physician and Surgeon: A Professional Medical Journal, July 1899. "Typhoid Fever," Physician and Surgeon: A Professional Medical Journal, November 1900. "Administrative Control of Tuberculosis," 1909. "Differential Diagnosis between Functional and Organic Cardiac Murmurs," 1917. "Cardiac Conditions That Do Not Disqualify for Army Service," Transactions of the American Climatalogical Association, 1918. "Artificial Pneumothorax in Acute Tuberculous Pneumonia, Acute Pulmonary Abscess and Pulmonary Hemorrhage," Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatalogical Association, 1921.

Family and death In August 1881, Johnston was married to Almira Sutton, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan (born November 29, 1859). They had five children: Bessie S. (born 1881), Carolyn A. (born 1884), George S. (born 1892), Katherine Sarah (born 1896), and Collins H., Jr. (born 1900). Collins died in December 1936 at age 77 from coronary thrombosis and arteriosclerosis.