Brent Johnston spent 34 years coaching football, basketball, girls' track, and gymnastics at Hinsdale Central High School while teaching thousands of teenagers how to drive. On Sept. 17, the Elmhurst resident will be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.

The Hinsdale Central Foundation announced Johnston as one of four inductees in the 2026 class. The ceremony will be held at Butterfield Country Club in Oak Brook, with tickets priced at $150 per person.

Johnston started at Hinsdale Central in the fall of 1975, teaching physical education and driver education. He coached four sports over his career and spent his final 20 years as the school's driver education coordinator.

He retired in 2009.

His influence extended well beyond the classroom. In the early 1980s, Johnston became active in the Illinois High School and College Driver Education Association, eventually serving as president and co-chair of its Legislative Task Force. In that role, he advocated for primary seat belt laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, zero tolerance laws for drivers under 21, and .08 Blood Alcohol Concentration legislation.

Johnston also led Hinsdale Central's Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter for 25 years, from 1984 to 2009, partnering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, D.A.R.E., and the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists to reduce teen-involved crashes.

The Hall of Fame honor carries a local family thread. Johnston's father taught driver education at York High School in Elmhurst for years, and his daughter Christie, a certified driver education instructor, teaches at Oak Park-River Forest High School. That makes three generations of DE instructors in the same family.

"Very few teaching disciplines are afforded the ability to have an influence every single day on someone's life for the next 60–70 years," Johnston wrote in his faculty biography for the Illinois Driver Education Teacher Endorsement Program at the University of St. Francis, where he serves as an adjunct professor.

Johnston lives in Elmhurst with his wife Vicki. The couple has four grown children: Becky, Katie, Christie, and Danny. His family's teaching legacy runs deep: his parents were both educators, both sisters teach, two nieces teach, and all three daughters are teachers.

The Hall of Fame dinner is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 17 at Butterfield Country Club. Ticket information is available through the Hinsdale Central Foundation.