Johnson, Rafer

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Rafer Johnson

1935-

American decathlete

Rafer Johnson's victory in the decathlon at the 1960 Summer Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, earned him the title of "world's greatest athlete," but the track star never competed in another Olympiad again. Johnson was one of the outstanding college athletes of his day, breaking several track and field records and winning Sports Illustrated 's "Sportsman of the Year" award while a student at the University of California at Los Angeles. At the opening ceremonies of the 1960 Rome Games, he carried the American flag at the front of the Olympic delegation, the first African American athlete ever chosen for the honor.

Standout Athlete

Johnson was born in 1935 in Texas's cotton country, and grew up in a house there that had neither indoor plumbing nor electricity. The family eventually resettled in small town in California's San Joaquin Valley, where they were one of the few black families in the area. Johnson's talents were apparent by his late teen years, and he was Kingsburg High School's star athlete in baseball, basketball, and track and field. One day, his track coach took him to watch another San Joaquin athlete, Bob Mathias, train for the 1952 Olympics, and Johnson decided that day to make the grueling decathlon his sport of choice.

Offered a football scholarship to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Johnson declined it in order to concentrate on track and field, and eventually captained the UCLA team. He was also elected student-body president, and became the first black at the school to pledge a national fraternity. After qualifying for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Johnson was hampered by injury and placed second in the decathlon. Its punishing series of ten events over two days caused its victors to earn the superlative "world's best athlete" designation, for they challenged both speed and strength in jumps, foot races, the discus throw and pole vault, among others. Between 1956 and 1960, Johnson won three U.S. national decathlon titles. In 1958, he competed against one of the decathlon's greatest names of the day, two-time Olympic bronze medallist Vasily Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union. They met in a showcase U.S.-Soviet track competition held at Moscow's Lenin Stadium, and Johnson bested his idol and set a world record that day.

Marched into Stadium

After qualifying for the 1960 U.S. Olympic track and field team, Johnson was designated captain of the entire American athletic contingent, and carried his country's flag during the opening ceremonies in Rome. He was slated to compete against C. K. Yang, a fellow track star at UCLA and a member of Taiwan's national Olympic team. On the first day of the decathlon, Johnson and Yang remained close in points; on the second day, Johnson lost points when he failed to clear one of the 110-meter hurdles, but did well with a pole vault of 13 feet, 5¹/₂ inches. The final event, the 1,500-meter race, was Johnson's least favorite, and he and Yang remained neck and neck for much of it; Johnson finished 1.2 seconds behind Yang, but his overall score of 8,392 points gave him the gold as well as the Olympic decathlon record. "At that moment, I gave it everything I could," he told Los Angeles Times writer Eric Sondheimer. "I couldn't have expended more energy than I did during those two days." Despite his gold-medal finish, Johnson felt bad for his friend. As elated as I was to win the gold medal," he told Sondheimer, "part of me was disappointed for C.K. because I know how hard he worked." Johnson and Yang have remained friends since the 1960 Olympic Games.

Johnson's dedication and drive helped him land a post-collegiate job as an international goodwill ambassador. He acted in Hollywood films, worked as a sports broadcaster, recruited Peace Corps trainees, and served as a personnel executive at a California telephone company. He also became involved in Democratic Party politics, and was a member of the security detail for 1968 U.S. presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy. When Kennedy exited through Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel after his California primary victory speech, shots were fired, Kennedy fell, and Johnson pushed the candidate's pregnant wife Ethel out of the way; he and football player Rosey Grier, another bodyguard, then tackled the assailant, Sirhan Sirhan, and Johnson disarmed him.

Chronology

1935	Born August 18, in Hillsboro, Texas
1945	Relocates to California with family
1952	Enters University of California at Los Angeles
1958	Travels to Moscow to participate in first-ever United States-Soviet track meet
1960	Carries U.S. flag during opening ceremonies at the Rome Olympics; appears in first feature film, Sergeant Rutledge
1968	Disarms Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan
1969	Serves as founding board member, California Special Olympics
1971	Marries Betsy Thorsen
1984	Lights Olympic flame at opening ceremonies of Los Angeles Summer Games
1998	Publishes autobiography
2000	Travels to Sydney, Australia, to watch daughter compete as Olympic volleyball player

Opening Ceremony Honoree Again

Devastated by the incident, Johnson recovered with the help of Kennedy's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver , who encouraged him to become involved in a project she had started, the Special Olympics, a competition for developmentally and physically disabled children and adults. Johnson married in 1971, and kept both his silver and gold Olympic medals in a bank vault, rarely mentioning them to his children. "The house was for everybody, not just me and my things," Johnson told Independent Sunday journalist Ronald Atkin. "We put up the medals or citations the kids got but almost none of my stuff was up. We never talked much about that." Both youngsters were stunned one day in 1984 when they drove with their father to Los Angeles Coliseum, where he disappeared and then emerged to light the Olympic flame during the opening ceremonies. "I felt a part of all those great Olympians on the field.… I think the torch run may be the great legacy of these Olympic Games," Sports Illustrated writer Robert Sullivan quoted him as saying. "I think it tied us together and made it all warm—a feeling of binding us all together."

In 1998 Johnson wrote an autobiography, The Best That I Can Be. He has long been active in the California Special Olympics (CSO) organization, serving on the board of directors as president and, since 1992, chair of the CSO Board of Governors. He is credited with bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support to CSO coffers through his fundraising efforts. Both of Johnson's children, Jennifer and Josh, followed their father to UCLA and were standout athletes there; Josh nearly made it onto the 2000 Olympic team in javelin, and Jennifer went to Sydney as a member of the U.S. beach volleyball team. "I am a very proud father," Johnson said in the interview with Atkin for the Independent Sunday. "In terms of motivation and preparation and desire to be the best they can be, I'd put my children right up there with the best I've ever known. They give their all."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o Santa Barbara Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 30768, Santa Barbara, CA 93130-0768.

Awards and Accomplishments

1955	Won gold medal in decathlon at the Pan American Games
1956	Won silver medal in decathlon at the Melbourne Summer Olympic Games
1956, 1958, 1960	Named U.S. national decathlon champion
1958	Set world record in the decathlon at United States-Soviet track meet in Moscow
1958	Named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated
1960	Won gold medal in decathlon at the Rome Summer Olympic Games; named Sportsman of the Year by Sport magazine
1960	Named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press
1960	Received James E. Sullivan Memorial Award from the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States
1974	Inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, Athletics Congress of the United States of America
1983	Inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame
1990	Inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame