John Floyd Campbell

John Floyd Campbell II was born in McLean, Texas on March 16, 1927. He was the third of six children born to Dr. William L. and Isla Campbell. When Johnny was eleven, the family moved to Pampa where his father opened a new dental practice in 1938. Johnny showed early signs of his leadership abilities when at the age of 13 he helped organize a kids campaign club to help elect a local candidate to Congress. The result was a story of his role in the successful campaign in a Life magazine article, followed by a trip to New York City to be interviewed on the popular national radio show "We The People".

At Pampa High School, Johnny was an active student leader. He was President of his sophomore and junior classes, the sophomore class favorite, and was elected all school favorite as a junior. He participated in student theater productions, was selected to the National Honor Society, was active in student council, and was elected President of the student body his senior year.

In spite of his small size, Johnny was an outstanding athlete. He was captain and quarterback of his junior high football teams. Never weighing more than 130 pounds in high school, he was the only four sport letterman at Pampa High his senior year. He was an all district back for the Harvester football team, a star player on the district champion basketball team that advanced to the state tournament, and served as co-captain in track, bringing home a silver medal in the mile run at the state meet. He played on the school tennis team and was a consistent winner in boxing tournaments during his junior high and high school years. He even won the school ping pong tournament. Long time Amarillo sports columnist Putt Powell wrote at the time that "Johnny Campbell...is the best all-around athlete ever produced in this area."

In the spring of 1945, Johnny left high school early and enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the Pacific at the end of World War ll. After his discharge from the Navy, he was unable to use his football scholarship to the University of Texas because there was no housing available due to the huge influx of veterans returning to school after the war. He did manage to find housing in Fort Worth and was able to get a scholarship to play football at TCU. From 1946-1947, he played football, was on the track team, and was a Golden Glove boxer. He continued to be an outstanding boxer for the University of Oklahoma when he transferred the next year. After graduating in 1949 with a degree in Chemical Engineering, he moved back home to Pampa and worked as Superintendent for Cabot Carbon Companyʼs Research Laboratory.

In 1953, Johnny changed career paths, accepting a position as an insurance agent with Panhandle Insurance Agency. He was quickly successful and became a partner the next year. Johnny stayed very busy and involved in various Pampa civic affairs. He and a friend personally borrowed the money to purchase land for the Optimist Club youth baseball complex and was then a leader in the building of both the field house and the fields. He was on the board of directors of the Kiwanis Club, served as President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and was given the Distinguished Service Award for the Outstanding Young Man of Pampa.

In September, 1958, John changed his career path once more. He moved his family to Austin after being accepted to the University of Texas School of Law. Married and with four young children, he went to school by day and worked nights and weekends, earning his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 2 years and 4 months. Following graduation in 1961, he was the high scorer of all examinees taking the Texas Bar examination that year. He spent the next 11 years working for the Austin law firm Alvis and Carssow before opening his own general practice. In 1975, he became one of the first lawyers in the state to become board certified in the newly formed specialty of Family Law.

John was an active member of the Church of Christ. During his Pampa years, he was frequently called to surrounding towns to preach as a lay minister. After moving to Austin, he served as the minister of the Church of Christ in the nearby towns of Jollyville and Leander. In his home church in Austin, University Avenue Church of Christ, he served as both a youth and adult Sunday School teacher and as an Elder. He was even pressed into service as the song leader one Sunday morning, but was not asked again as there are limits to everyone's talents. For many years he was very active in the leadership and growth of the East Austin Church of Christ.

Always active in sports, John was an early proponent of exercise and running to maintain good health. Long before there were any "runners", John was running daily to help stay fit. In the '60s and early '70s, he competed in the Master Mile event at the Texas Relays for men over 40. At the age of 48, he was still able to run the mile in under 5 minutes. As jogging and running became popular in the 1970s, he began competing in 5K and 10k events around central Texas. He has run the Capital 10K in Austin every year of itʼs 37 year history except one when he had to be out of town. Over the years he has competed in countless 5K races around central Texas, in recent years especially enjoying those he ran with son Bill and his grandsons.

John enjoyed many years of boating, swimming and water skiing on Lake Austin. He loved to have his children, then grandchildren, and eventually his great grandchildren come out to "Grandad's Lake House". He played handball on the UT campus every week for years, eventually having the opportunity to regularly play with his Austin grandsons when they attended the University of Texas.

In 2011, John was honored by the Texas Bar Association as one of the small number of attorneys who have practiced for 50 years. This is especially remarkable as John came late to the profession at the age of 34. In one letter to a friend a few years ago he wrote that the legal profession had proved to him that "if you really enjoy what you are doing, you never have to work a day in your life." He looked on his legal work as more of a ministry than a business, an opportunity to serve and help people, many of whom had no one else to turn to for help. From little Johnny Campbell of Pampa to John Campbell Attorney at Law of Austin, he was always a friend you could rely on.