Students in the College of Arts and Media will be able to apply for a scholarship in honor of the late C. Bosworth Johnson starting in spring of 2017.

Johnson was an assistant professor of journalism from 1976 to 1988 at the university.

Johnson, who passed away in 2014, served as an anchor and news director at WSAZ for 24 years before coming to teach at Marshall, where he became a local legend.

“Bos was a legend in this area when it comes to broadcast journalism,” said journalism professor Dan Hollis. “The scholarship can help to teach the next legends.”

The recipient of the scholarship must be in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Johnson was best known for his coverage of the Silver Bridge disaster in 1967 and the plane crash that claimed the lives of Marshall football players, coaches and boosters.

Johnson’s legacy continues with the scholarship and with his son Rob Johnson, who currently anchors for WSAZ.

“As a broadcast instructor, he had the ability to convey television news mechanics, storytelling and newsroom protocol in the classroom,” said Chris Swindell, journalism professor and past student of Johnson. “He had the ability to make the classroom into the very real world that he was sending students into.”

Swindell said he hopes the scholarship can help a future student get the chance he and Johnson had, as well as the opportunity for students Johnson would want.

“I am trying to imitate his teaching style,” Swindell said. “Television news can be an angry place, but Bos never got mad.”

Johnson taught nationally known names in journalism, including NBC’s Roger O’Neill and ABC’s Bill Stewart.

Johnson received several awards during his lifetime, such as National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the West Virginia Associated Press Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Cole Glover can be contacted at [email protected].