When he was 9, Johnson’s parents, in search of a fresh start and better opportunities for their children, moved to the California San Joaquin Valley town of Kingsburg, where most of the residents were of Swedish descent. About. [17], Johnson was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958[18] and won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1960, breaking that award's color barrier. Rafer Johnson, in full Rafer Lewis Johnson, (born August 18, 1934, Hillsboro, Texas, U.S.—died December 2, 2020, Los Angeles, California), American athlete and actor, who won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. 1960 Olympic decathlete gold medallist Rafer Johnson of … Birthday August Aug 18, 1934. [19] He was chosen to ignite the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Birthplace Hillsboro, TX . ... Boost Birthday August Aug 18, 1934. The Johnsons were the only black family. © Provided by RADIO.COM One of the greatest American athletes has died. Rafer Johnson, who won the gold medal … His victory was mediated by Tamás Vitray in Hungary. ", "Rafer Johnson — Olympic gold medalist and UCLA dad", "Rafer Johnson, Winner of a Memorable Decathlon, Is Dead", Jacobs and Washington on track for repeat in Paris – USA Champs Day Three, "Art of the Olympians | Be the best you can be", "Rafer Johnson, the Olympic gold medalist who helped bring the games to L.A., has died", "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement", "California Hall Fame Inductee Special Olympics Founder Editorial Stock Photo - Stock Image | Shutterstock", "Olympic champion Rafer Johnson had ties to Kern County, including being namesake of Bakersfield school", http://ttfca2.wixsite.com/txtfhalloffame/inductees, "Eight Olympians, Paralympians Named Athletes In Excellence", Video clip from 1984 Summer Olympics, including Rafer Johnson lighting the Olympic Flame, Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, Olympic champions in the men's all-around, pentathlon and decathlon, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rafer_Johnson&oldid=1006945218, Athletes (track and field) at the 1955 Pan American Games, Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics, Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics, World record setters in athletics (track and field), Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field, Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field, Olympic track and field athletes of the United States, UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes, Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States, Sportspeople from Fresno County, California, Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field), Track & Field News Athlete of the Year winners, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 February 2021, at 17:51. Johnson, however, retired from athletics and subsequently embarked on a film and television career as well as a sportscaster. In 2006, the NCAA named him one of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes of the past 100 years. LOS ANGELES — Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968, died Wednesday. And so the height difference was no longer a problem. Born Rafer Lewis Johnson on Aug. 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, he moved to California in 1945 with his family, including his brother Jim, a future NFL Hall of Fame inductee. These included gold medals won by Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, in boxing, Wilma Rudolph, who won three golds in track and field, and Oscar Robertson in basketball, among others. (CNN) Rafer Johnson, who ended his famed track and field career with an exciting win in the 1960 Olympic decathlon, died Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to … After a brief move to Oklahoma, the family returned to Texas when Johnson was 3 and settled in a Dallas home with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Johnson went on to win the decathlon in dramatic fashion by narrowly beating his UCLA teammate, C.K. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2016. Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy's assassin in 1968, died Wednesday at age 86. World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that 1960 Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson – widely regarded as one of the all-time greats in the combined events – died on Wednesday (2) at the age … In the decathlon, the lead swung back and forth between them. In 1984, Johnson was given the prestigious honor of lighting the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event. Rafer Johnson died at the age of 86 at his home in Sherman Oaks Wednesday. [6], Due to injury, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 seasons (the latter due to a car accident), but he broke the world record in 1958 and again in 1960. [6] In 1960, Johnson began acting in motion pictures and working as a sportscaster. The cameraman said he couldn’t show two of them at once because only one of them would be visible, because of the height difference. At the age of 86, he passed away in Sherman Oaks, California. Birthplace Hillsboro, TX . DEATH DATE Dec 2, 2020 (age 86) Popularity . … But a knee injury and torn stomach muscle hampered Johnson and he finished second at the Games in Melbourne, Australia, a bitter disappointment. He died at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, on … [12], Johnson worked on the presidential election campaign of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and on June 5, 1968 with the help of Rosey Grier, he apprehended Sirhan Sirhan immediately after Sirhan had assassinated Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. He would often accompany Kennedy at many of his campaign events and was with Kennedy in Los Angeles on the night of June 5, 1968, when Kennedy was shot to death after giving a victory speech for winning the California primary. Two years later Johnson won a gold medal in ten trials at the Rome Olympics. Rafer Johnson, Actor: Licence to Kill. [2] Johnson, along with a small group of volunteers, founded California Special Olympics in 1969 by conducting a competition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for 900 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Rafer Johnson was born during the Depression, on August 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, the second of six children born to Lewis Johnson, a cotton picker and farm handyman, and Alma Gibson Johnson. 1 The Purest of Rivalries: Rafer Johnson, C.K. Rafer Johnson won gold at the 1960 Olympics and tackled the killer of then-presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968. David Maraniss, who wrote Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World, described how Johnson was used not simply as an athlete but unwittingly to a degree as a valuable propaganda tool against the Soviets. At UCLA he joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity; he was, in fact, the first African American to pledge a national fraternity at UCLA. When the school offered Johnson his choice of a football scholarship or an academic award, he accepted the more lucrative and less restrictive academic scholarship. Trained for Olympics. The Best That I Can Be: an Autobiography, Rafer Johnson, New York, NY, U.S.: Doubleday, 1998, page 24, "I’m sure that in 1946 no one thought twice when they heard that another family named Johnson had moved into town; it was the most common name in Kingsburg.”. Johnson is survived by his wife of 49 years Elizabeth Thorsen and their children Jenny Johnson Jordan and Josh Johnson, (who were athletes themselves), son-in-law Kevin Jordan, and four grandchildren. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. [15], Johnson participated in the Art of the Olympians program. [6] He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America's first non-sectarian fraternity, and was class president[6] at UCLA. American Olympic decathlete who won gold in the 1960 Rome Olympics and silver in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. His acting career included appearances in The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), the Elvis Presley film Wild in the Country (1961), Pirates of Tortuga (1961), None but the Brave (1965), two Tarzan films with Mike Henry, The Last Grenade (1970), Soul Soldier (1970), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), the James Bond film Licence to Kill (1989), and Think Big (1990). Within six years, however, Muhammad Ali was being prosecuted for refusing the draft and denied the right to box for almost four years. Kennedy’s assassination left Johnson traumatized and depressed. degree from Whittier College.[27]. He saw the whole board and was making the best moves for both sides. [11], While training for the 1960 Olympics, his friend Kirk Douglas told him about a part in Spartacus that Douglas thought might make him a star: the Ethiopian gladiator Draba, who refuses to kill Spartacus (played by Douglas) after defeating him in a duel. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's football, baseball and basketball teams. It was a cause he remained involved in the rest of his life. [25], In November 2014, Johnson received the Athletes in Excellence Award from The Foundation for Global Sports Development, in recognition of his community service efforts and work with youth. Also, he had a bodyweight of 91 kgs (201 lbs). The summer between his sophomore and junior years in high school (age 16), his coach Murl Dodson drove Johnson 24 miles (40 km) to Tulare and watched Bob Mathiasco… John Wooden was his coach when he played at UCLA. [1] His son Joshua Johnson followed his father into track and field and had a podium finish in the javelin throw at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The 1960 Rome Olympics also served as a platform for the emergence of a number of other African-American athletes on a national and world stage. Rafer Johnson: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. His family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was aged nine. Rafer Lewis Johnson was born on Aug. 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, south of Dallas, to Lewis and Alma (Gibson) Johnson. Rafer Johnson was born during the Depression, on August 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, the second of six children born to Lewis Johnson, a cotton … The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. LOS ANGELES — Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968, died Wednesday. [7] Johnson told his coach, "I could have beaten most of those guys. The great decathlete and humanitarian Rafer Johnson died at age 86. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. [12], In 1998, Johnson was named one of ESPN's 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. Rafer Johnson estimated Net Worth, Biography, Age, Height, Dating, Relationship Records, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below. He studied at Kingsburg High School, and as he was a talented athlete, he competed in three sporting teams for the school – these were basketball, baseball, and football. Johnson discussed the experience in his autobiography, The Best That I Can Be (published in 1999 by Galilee Trade Publishing and co-authored with Philip Goldberg). Johnson thereafter began a close political and personal relationship with the Kennedy family and became an active supporter of the Democratic Party. Johnson read for and got the role, but was forced to turn it down because the Amateur Athletic Union told him it would make him a professional and therefore ineligible for the Olympics. “There was something pure and innocent about the sport: You ran, you jumped, you threw things, just as young men had done since the dawn of civilization,” he wrote in his autobiography. [22], Rafer Johnson Junior High School in Kingsburg, California is named after Johnson,[23] as are Rafer Johnson Community Day School and Rafer Johnson Children's Center, both in Bakersfield, California. Associated Press. “I found myself affected by the political overtones despite my efforts to ignore them.”. “His performance in New York, along with his stature as the gold medal favorite in the decathlon, convinced the officials that Johnson should be the U.S. captain in Rome and the first black athlete to carry the U.S. flag at an Olympic opening ceremonies. Weeks later, Johnson competed in a high school invitational decathlon and won the event. From 1983-92, he was president of the Special Olympics Southern California. ... Sean Connery died on Oct. 31 at age 90 He was 86. When Robert Kennedy announced his run for president in 1968, Johnson joined his campaign, addressing rallies, speaking at news conferences and meeting with voters. In 1983, Rafer ran for President of the Board to increase Board participation, reorganize the staff to most effectively use each person's talents, and expand fundraising efforts. He later redirected his efforts by helping launch the California Special Olympics, the athletics event for disabled children that was begun by the Kennedy family. Rafer Johnson’s age is 85. Biography African American athlete Rafer Johnson was but a few years out of UCLA when he distinguished himself at the 1960 Olympics, scoring 8,392 points in the Olympic Decathalon. He won the Pan American Games in 1955, earning a spot on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He then broke the world record for the decathlon, establishing himself as the favorite for the 1956 Olympics. Johnson received numerous college athletic scholarships and chose UCLA, in part because its alumni included Jackie Robinson, who broke the racial barrier in Major League Baseball, and Ralph Bunche, the first black American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. NPR remembers Rafer Johnson, an Olympic champion in the decathlon, who died this week at age 86. Late Rafer was blessed with a towering height of 6 feet 3 inches (1.90 meters). Thus the solution was born: they put the stool under Vitray, on which he stood until the time of recording. [21] Johnson was a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll. When Johnson was a youngster, his family relocated to California. Every year Johnson himself spoke at the event and cheered on hundreds of students with special needs as they participated in a variety of track and field events. The media and the US government promoted these athletes and their gold medal accomplishments in an attempt to demonstrate that racial discrimination was an issue of the past. [24], In 2010, Johnson received the Fernando Award for Civic Accomplishment from the Fernando Foundation and in 2011, he was inducted into the Bakersfield City School District Hall of Fame. [20] On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Johnson would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. He had previously won a gold in the 1955 Pan American Games. "[6] Dodson and Johnson drove back a month later to watch Mathias's victory parade. In 1962, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. "[6], Johnson was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 28th round (333rd overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft as a running back. He … USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, The Foundation for Global Sports Development, "Rafer Johnson, Olympic champ who helped subdue RFK's assassin, dies at 86", "Rafer Johnson, 1960 Olympic decathlon champion, dies at 86", "Ch. Both athletes were exhausted and drained and came to a stop a few paces past the finish line leaning against each other for support.