Jack Johnson was drawn like a magnet to the epicenter of Appaloosa breeding. In the early 1950s, he traveled with his wife Margaret and son Bill to the National Appaloosa Horse Show in Deer Lodge, Montana. A Hall of Fame horse, Red Eagle was there, as well as his son, Simcoe’s Chinook, the talk of the sale. Jack and Margaret purchased two Appaloosa stallions: Simcoe’s Chinook, and another Appaloosa stallion, Chief Smokey. Their lives were never the same. They bought and moved to a ranch southeast of Waco and named it JMB Appaloosa Ranch, which stands for Jack, Margaret, and Bill.

Bill, with Chinook and Smokey, went on to win hundreds of competitions across the nation. Bill came into his own as a premier horseman in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, including winning the championship trophy at the National Cutting Horse Futurity in Galveston when he was 19 years old.

It was at the Ranch that Jack and Margaret launched Johnson Auctions, a twice-a-month horse/consignment sale. For the next 36 years, people from all over Central Texas would come to the Ranch for the auctions. One night when the auctioneer didn’t show, Bill took the microphone to conduct the sale. He was still a teenager, nervous and shaking in his boots, but did a fine job. Over time and many more Tuesday night auctions, Bill honed his auction chant, bid calling, and cattle rattle and became a licensed auctioneer. When the Ranch auctions ended, Bill turned Johnson Auctions into an auctioneering business and conducted many sales. Johnson Auctions continues to donate many fundraiser auctions for Central Texas charities. The Johnson’s continue to donate many of the Appaloosa foals from the family’s Championship bloodlines to area charities.

While attending Baylor University, Bill’s entrepreneurial spirit came alive. With a herd of horses on the Ranch, he expanded his horseback riding lessons and turned it into a business. Eventually his students and other area horse enthusiasts wanted to come to the Ranch simply to ride, so he added horseback riding to his operation. By the mid-1970s, about 100 people would come to the Ranch every weekend, including friend Judge Joe Johnson and his daughter, Dena. Baylor fraternities and sororities and many other area organizations flocked to the Ranch for hayride parties. The entire Johnson family supervised all the activities. By the late 1980s, many Central Texans had been to the Ranch for an auction, horseback ride, or hayride!