Derek “White Chocolate” Johnson is an intramural-sports lifer.

Voted the DI Intramural Athlete of the Week last week, Johnson, 22, is a fifth-year senior studying marketing and management.

The Urbandale, Iowa, native is also a cofounder of the intramural team Off Dan Whalen, and he has played intramural sports every semester since coming to the university.

If Recreational Services kept tabs on championships, Johnson might just be one of the all-time leaders.

His wardrobe consists of at least seven or eight intramural champion T-shirts, which are presented to winners at the culmination of each event.

Last year, Johnson and Off Dan Whalen decided to go for the All-University Championship, a title awarded to the intramural team that participates in and does well in the most sports.

Off Dan Whalen took first in wiffle ball, mini-golf, dodge ball, and kickball, in addition to second-place finishes in bowling and Ping-Pong. Despite the team’s success, it finished second in the championship — only a few points behind Team Chino.

Friend and former intramural teammate Mike Horan recalls waking up countless times at 10 a.m. on a Saturday to the sound of Johnson honking his car horn because Horan had agreed to participate in some obscure intramural sport.

“For Derek Andrew Johnson, intramurals is life,” Horan said. “Just one of many similarities Derek has with Benny the Jet [from The Sandlot, is his passion for competition. With Derek as the fearless leader of our team, we racked up championships week after week.”

Although on the surface it would appear that winning is the most important thing for Johnson, that is certainly not the case.

“It’s not about the [championship] T-shirts,” he said and laughed. “Sports is my outlet. I like competing in sports with my friends. I’d rather do that than be on a winning team with guys you don’t know that well.”

When he isn’t playing intramurals, Johnson’s pastimes include hanging out with friends and playing Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64. He has also participated in Big Brother, Big Sister as well as Dance Marathon.

After graduation, his aspirations include working in event management for a nonprofit organization, an area in which intramurals is helping him with a class project.

He is working on a program for a class that would start intramural sports programs in local high schools. The program is loosely based on the intramural program at Iowa.

“The university does an absolutely outstanding job of running its intramurals in all aspects,” he said.

“[The program] would put these sports into high schools to try to get kids involved so kids that don’t necessarily want to play football or basketball can still get involved in some sort of athletics competition.”

It seems that only one thing can keep Johnson away from sports — injuries.

He will be unable to compete for Off Dan Whalen in the intramural flag-football playoffs this year because of impending knee surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus. Because he plans to graduate in December, his illustrious intramural career seems to be drawing to a close.

Johnson has several intramural memories to take away from his four and a half years at Iowa, one that his teammate Horan remembers vividly dating back to last year.

“Derek and I were socializing at one of Iowa City’s reputable establishments, and we walked by some students Derek had played dodge ball against earlier that day,” he said. “The kids looked at each other in disarray, and I overheard one of them say, ‘That is the freak who destroyed us in dodge ball today.’ ”