Check Out Johnny Stanton’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny Stanton.

Hi Johnny, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was raised in Burbank before moving to Laguna Beach in middle school, but I was an LA kid through and through. Sports was a huge part of my life growing up, and Dodger baseball, Laker basketball, and Trojan football defined me as a kid.
I grew up to be a pretty good athlete, heading to University of Nebraska on a football scholarship to play Quarterback. When that didn’t pan out the way I hoped, I transferred back home to play a semester at Saddleback Community College before graduating from University of Nevada – Las Vegas after two seasons as a Rebel.
Despite a less-than-stellar college football career, I made the transition into the NFL after making the team with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 as a fullback. My time in Minneapolis was short lived, however, as I broke my ankle in my second preseason game. I was sent home to recover and during that time I was lucky enough to meet my now wife, Madison.
I returned to the NFL in 2020 with the Cleveland Browns and called Ohio my part time home for two and a half years before my NFL stint ended in 2022.
Since leaving the NFL, I have had the fun opportunity of joining a number of productions for Dungeons & Dragons shows and becoming a game designer in the table top role playing game space. LA is a major hub for these kinds of productions and I could not be more proud of the place I live.
As I now write this, Maddie and I are less than 2 weeks away from expecting our first child, a boy, as we move into our new home in South Orange County. We love the Southland as our home and I try to make it into the city as often as possible to see friends or catch the occasional Dodger game.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My path has been anything but smooth. My NFL career was filled with injuries, ultimately ending with one, and my career since has been up and down with successes and failures. But I couldn’t imagine anything different from what I have experienced.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am co-creator of a table top role playing game third party expansion for Dungeons & Dragons called SINK! The book utilizes a game and art style that we do not see much of in the industry and we are working hard to create a space for ourselves in it.
On the production side, I never had imagined myself a performer, but I have been lucky enough to be consistently proven wrong and been made to feel proud of the role-player/improviser that I have become.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There have been so many people on my road that I can thank and give credit to and I will never be able to remember them all. Any football coach or teammate I have ever had. The folks at Dropout TV for making me feel funny for the first time in my life. My local comic book shop in college for introducing me to Dungeons & Dragons. My parents, for giving me the morals I live my life with. But none more so than my wife, Madison, who has been my biggest supporter, motivator, and source of stability I’ve ever had,

Pricing:

• Public Speaking (negotiable)
• Production Appearance (negotiable)
• SINK! Adventures on the Caldereach Sea (from $59)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stantoniv.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/johnnystantoniv
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/johnnystantoniv
• Twitter: https://x.com/johnnystantoniv
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@stantoniv
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@johnnystantoniv

Image Credits
Matt Starkey (Browns Photographer)
Josh Reis