Acting in soap operas is a lot like high jumping. No, really ... It is, says Rodney Van Johnson, star of NBC's Passions.

        Van Johnson, a University of Cincinnati track and field standout in the mid-1980s, will be inducted into the UC Athletic Hall of Fame during a halftime ceremony at the UC-Ohio State football game Saturday at Paul Brown Stadium. Passions fans better know him as T.C. Russell, a high school tennis coach and loving father with a bad temper.

        “Athletic ability really comes in handy on the job,” Van Johnson said. “We do a lot of wild and crazy things on this show that I'm not used to on other daytime shows. This is the only television job where I've had to be in good shape. It's very demanding because we tape every day.”

        Van Johnson has been doing television since he landed a guest-starring role on Grace Under Fire in 1996. That is when he decided to put track and field behind him for good.

        “Cincinnati just wasn't a track town,” he said. “Nike had promised to sponsor me, but they reneged on that. After a while, I couldn't compete as much as I wanted to. I was a high jumper. There aren't a lot of high jump pits in people's backyards.”

        He didn't quit athletics without leaving a mark, though. Van Johnson holds UC records in the high jump (7 feet, 3 inches) and the 100 meters (hand-timed at 10.2 seconds). He also qualified for the Olympics in the 100 but did not make the U.S. team. He left track because without a steady sponsor, there wasn't enough money in the sport.

        Now, he is starring on his third soap on his third network since 1997. Passions is the most unorthodox of the three (ABC's Port Charles and CBS' The Young and the Restless were the other two). It is set in New England and includes a 300-year-old witch and used to star a magical talking doll until the actor, Josh Ryan Evans, died earlier this month.

        “That was a big blow to all of us,” Van Johnson said. “He was a star. People tuned in to see him and Juliet Mills (Tabitha, the town witch). They were like Batman and Robin.”

        Van Johnson says he shares some of Russell's traits, particularly being protective of his wife and 3-year-old son. And like Van Johnson, Russell is a former world-class athlete, only in tennis instead of track.

        “We've got a lot of similar characteristics — except for the violent temper,” Van Johnson said. “I don't have that. I don't know as much as I should about tennis, being a tennis coach on the show. I like the game, but I'm not as good at it as I am at basketball or track, obviously.”

        For now, Van Johnson is comfortable acting as a tennis coach on daytime television. That could change, he says, hopefully with a move to prime time.

        “Every actor wants to do primetime or feature films,” he said. “You work less and get paid mad money to do it. So ultimately, yes, I would like that. That would be a big gamble, though. I really enjoy what I'm doing now. It takes a lot of work, but I like the work.”

West Virginia 35, UC 32 West Virginia breathes sigh of relief Ohio State 25, Washington State 7 UC track star jumps into soap operas

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