DIAMONDS are a Girl’s Best Friend The storied sports career of
Hoboken’s top educator
Dr. Christine Johnson Image by TBishPhoto
By Jim Hague
F
or the last four years, she’s been known as Dr. Christine Johnson, Hoboken’s popular, friendly, and effervescent Superintendent of Schools. Before Johnson came to Hoboken, she spent eight years as school’s chief in Boonton and three as an administrator in Mendham. Becoming Hoboken’s first-ever woman superintendent was a huge opportunity. “I wanted to change the negative perception of the Hoboken school system,” Johnson said. “I want the community to trust the public school system.” Johnson never envisioned herself as a superintendent. “I always thought I would become a high school teacher and coach,” she said. “If I could do for others what my coaches did for me, then that would have been fine.” In another life, Johnson was known as Chrissy Morrison, a three-sport standout at nearby North Arlington High School: volleyball in fall, basketball in winter, and softball in spring. She earned All-Bergen County Scholastic League honors in all three sports and earned her varsity letter in the three sports all four years. She was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994, just six years after graduating.
16 • 07030 ~ WINTER 2021
“My goal was to be a 12-season varsity athlete,” Johnson said. “The one sport I needed work on was volleyball.” Johnson said, “I never played volleyball in my life. In the ‘80s, there were no clubs. I knew I wanted to play, so all summer before coming to high school, I had the volleyball net up in the yard. I was practicing hitting and digging.”
Coach Cooper “The coach Mr. [Don] Cooper was my gym teacher in fifth grade,” Johnson said. “So I knew he knew me.” Cooper became a North Arlington coaching legend, leading the Vikings to the overall NJSIAA Group I state title in 2004. “I knew that she was a very tough kid with a tough attitude,” Cooper said. “I remember her being consistent. She was a good leader and a solid all-around player.” Chrissy found her niche as an outside hitter, earning All-BCSL and All-Bergen County honors. “My senior year, we had a chance to win the Bergen County Tournament,” she said. “Cooper was very methodical and strategic. He made me into a better volleyball player.”
Gene Pool Chrissy came from an athletic family. Her uncle Joe Francello went to Syracuse University from North Arlington High on a track scholarship and competed in the United States Olympic Trials. Her sister Dina Morrison still holds many of North Arlington’s track records. Her brother Michael was an excellent pitcher for the Vikings. “I think that forced me to get into sports even more,” Johnson said. “I was the little kid getting tossed around by my older siblings. I went to their practices and watched.” Her mother, Carmela Reddiconto, 76, runs six miles a day. When basketball season began in the winter of 1985, Chrissy had already been playing in ultracompetitive CYO basketball for neighboring Queen of Peace parish.
Basketball Brainiac “You had to work hard to make the Queen of Peace team because most of the kids went to school there,” Johnson said. She became so proficient that she was selected to play for the New Jersey Monarchs AAU program, coached by the late Karen Fuccello, the long-time girls’ basketball coach and athletic director at Belleville High School.
