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Hoffman was trained as a pilot on the B-26 Maurauder, a
somewhat notorious plane known as “The Widowmaker.” His
instructor was killed when his takeoff engine failed
before Hoffman graduated from flight school as a 1st
Lieutenant. Eventually, Hoffman was sent to Preswick,
Scotland. He arrived to find that the six-man crew he
had trained with had been killed the night before. He
got the crew of the pilot who had been killed with them.
He went on to fly 70 missions in the European Theatre,
including the first day of the D-Day invasion. “We flew
in from France,” he said. “We were flying where the
toughest fighting was going on. When we took off,
visibility was 0-0. We had to fly 10,000-15,000 feet
above the weather and reassemble.”
Col. Bobby Douglass ’67, who nominated Hoffman, said
they met at a Schreiner reunion in Dallas and found that
they had their military experiences in common.
“My accomplishments were pretty impressive, but his
overshadowed mine by about 10 times,” Douglass said. “He
is that impressive.”
The Army sent Hoffman to military engineering school,
and after he left the military he went on to Texas Tech
University. He left in his senior year to go into the
aviation business. In 1955, Hoffman and a brother-in-law
bought Mooney Aircraft and he developed and ran the
company’s national and international marketing program
until 1969. He became president of Commodore Jet Sales
in 1970, where he was responsible for sales and
marketing for the Commodore Jet aircraft. After
returning to Texas, he started Interjet Incorporated, a
jet brokerage company. The company has celebrated its
34th year, under Hoffman’s leadership.
Hoffman grew up in the Depression and became the man of
the family at the age of 6 when his father died. He
learned to drive shortly afterwards, and worked as an
egg candler, iceman and delivery boy. “In order to be
successful, individuals like my father exhibited
qualities such as determination, goal setting and a
stubborn resistance to being diverted from achieving
those objectives,” said Norman Hoffman Jr. ’60.
“Schreiner helped in shaping those characteristics.”
“I had a wonderful time at Schreiner,” Hoffman said. “I
had a wonderful job; I ran the tailor shop, and learned
to press clothes, iron clothes and clean them. I spent
the summer working in a local tailor shop so I could go
to Schreiner.”
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Dr. Charles
Johnson ’58 This is the second time Schreiner has honored alumnus
Dr. Charles Johnson ’58; he was named to the Athletic
Hall of Honor in 2003. He came to Schreiner Institute on
a football scholarship and played on the basketball and
golf teams after Schreiner ended its football program in
1957.
Charles Robb ’58, who nominated Johnson as a
Distinguished Alumnus, remembers their time at
Schreiner: “Charley and I were roommates in old West
Barracks. When you got up in the morning you had to run
down an open porch to get to the shower, then you had to
run back to your room.
“Our football team picked up speed when our starting QB
got injured and Charley took over and started passing
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While still at Schreiner, New Mexico State University
offered Johnson a basketball scholarship; he ended up
quarterbacking the NMSU football team. The team won the
Sun Bowl in 1959 and 1960 and Johnson was voted Sun Bowl
Most Valuable Player both years. He had a perfect 11-0
season in 1960. Johnson went on to 15 years of success
in professional football as a quarterback for the St.
Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers and Denver Broncos.
However, unlike many professional athletes, he continued
his education, receiving a Master’s and a Doctor of
Science degree in chemical engineering from Washington
University in St. Louis.
“Charley has proven to be an outstanding Schreiner
student,” Robb said. “He has led three professional
football teams as QB and obtained a Ph.D. at the same
time.”
Johnson had been commissioned a 2nd lieutenant on his
graduation from NMSU, and ultimately served two years on
active duty with NASA, ending his military service as a
captain in the U.S. Army Reserves.
After 30 years working in the private sector, Johnson
returned to NMSU in 2000, where he is now a professor in
the school’s Department of Chemical Engineering and an
assistant to the NMSU president. He has served on the
Athletic Council and Hall of Fame Committee at NMSU and
on the Memorial Medical Center Foundation’s board of
trustees.
“My time at Schreiner taught me great lessons in
organization and time planning,” he said. “Those lessons
served me well in school, athletics, business and
certainly now in education.”
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