Rafer Johnson

Athlete

• Born: August 18, 1935
• Birthplace: Hillsboro, Texas
• Died: December 2, 2020
• Place of death: Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California

Track-and-field athlete

Johnson won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games. He also won an Olympic silver medal and established himself as an exemplary role model who dedicated his life to helping others.

Areas of achievement: Social issues; Sports: Olympics; Sports: track and field

Early Life

Rafer Lewis Johnson was born on August 18, 1935, in Hillsboro, Texas. He was one of six children born to Lewis and Alma Gibson Johnson. His parents lived with his paternal grandparents and five aunts and uncles in a large home that had no indoor plumbing or electricity. When Johnson was three years old, his parents moved to an African American neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. The family moved to Kingsburg, California, when Johnson was nine years old and lived in a railroad boxcar for a year. To help support the family, Johnson picked hundreds of pounds of cotton per day and suffered a serious injury on a conveyor belt outside a food-packing plant. His foot became infected and healed slowly, affecting him for the remainder of his competitive career.

At Kingsburg High School, Johnson was an excellent student and athlete. He was the student body president and played varsity baseball, football, basketball, and track. In baseball, his batting average was above .400. In basketball, he averaged seventeen points per game. In football, he led Kingsburg to three league championships, averaging nine yards per carry as a running back. However, his favorite sport was track and field.

After watching Bob Mathias, the 1948 and 1952 Olympic decathlon champion, compete in a meet, Johnson decided to become a decathlete. The decathlon consists of ten events spread over two days. The first day of competition consists of the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and the 400-meter dash. The second day brings the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1,500-meter dash. Johnson went on to win high school state championships in the decathlon and the 110-yard hurdles.

Life’s Work

Johnson won a track-and-field scholarship to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1955, he won the decathlon at the Pan-American Games and set a world record with 7,758 points. He also won his first Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national decathlon championship and emerged as one of the favorites for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. After qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team in decathlon and long jump, Johnson suffered a torn stomach muscle and had to forfeit his place in the long jump. Still limited by the injury, he finished second to fellow American decathlete Milton Campbell at the Olympics. That was the last defeat for Johnson in the decathlon.

Johnson graduated from UCLA with a high grade-point average. He was a member of three campus honor societies, student body president, and the university’s first African American student to pledge a white fraternity.

Johnson trained hard for the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, but faced more adversity in the form of a car accident one year before the Olympics. Despite spending several weeks in the hospital, he won the decathlon at the Olympic trials. The highlight of Johnson’s career came at the Rome Olympics. His biggest challenge in winning the Olympic decathlon was his training partner, friend, and fellow UCLA Bruin Yang Chuan-kwang of Taiwan. Johnson led Yang after the first nine events, but Yang was a strong competitor in the 1,500 meters and threatened to win the gold. If Johnson could finish within ten seconds of Yang’s time, he would secure the gold medal. However, Yang’s best time was more than eighteen seconds better than Johnson’s. Johnson rose to the challenge and managed to run close to Yang, winning gold and setting an Olympic record with 8,392 points. Johnson retired after the Olympics at the age of twenty-six.

Johnson received the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year honor in 1958 and the James E. Sullivan Award (given to the top amateur athlete in the United States) in 1960, becoming the first African American to win that award. He was part of the first class inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame and named one of ESPN’s 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the Twentieth Century. In 2006, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) named him one of its 100 Most Influential Student Athletes. Johnson was one of the founders of the Special Olympics in Southern California and a spokesman for the Hershey’s Track and Field Games. Johnson also served on the President’s Commission on Olympic Sports during the 1970s. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and Black Athletes Hall of Fame.

After his track-and-field career was complete, Johnson worked in a variety of fields, including acting and sportscasting. He became politically involved and served as an official delegate for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. When Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Kennedy in 1968, Johnson was present and helped to apprehend him. Johnson also served on the board of the Los Angeles Athletic Foundation, which has raised millions of dollars for youth sports programs. He served on the national advisory boards of the United States Association for Blind Athletes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Physically and Mentally Handicapped Committee, and the National Recreation and Park Association.

Johnson’s Olympic experiences continued in 1984. Twenty-four years after winning a gold medal Johnson was the final torchbearer, running up the giant stairway at the Los Angeles Coliseum and lighting the flame that opened the 1984 Olympic Games. The granddaughter of Jesse Owens, the legendary African American sprinter who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, passed the torch to Johnson. Johnson’s own daughter, Jenny Johnson Jordan, continued her father’s Olympic legacy when she represented the United States in beach volleyball at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

Significance

Johnson overcame poverty, racial discrimination, and injury to become the best all-around athlete in the world. He won Olympic gold and silver medals and set world records in the decathlon, one of the most challenging events in sports. After the 1960 Olympic Games, Johnson dedicated his time and energies to helping others. He has been an exemplary role model in promoting recreational opportunities for youths and the Special Olympics.

Bibliography

Ashe, Arthur. A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African American Athlete—Track and Field. New York: Amistad, 2000. Print.

Hewitt, Alison. "UCLA Gold Medalist Rafer Johnson Continues to Champion Special Olympics." UCLA Newsroom. UCLA, 23 July 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Johnson, Rafer, and Philip Goldberg. The Best That I Can Be: An Autobiography. New York: Galilee, 1999. Print.

Maraniss, David. Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World. New York: Simon, 2008. Print.

Reid, Scott M. "Rafer Johnson Helped Something Special Grow from Tragedy." Orange County Register. Orange County Register, 24 July 2015. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Rosewater, Amy. "30 Years Ago Rafer Johnson Lit Up Los Angeles." Team USA. United States Olympic Committee, 28 July 2014. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.

Quercetani, Roberto L. “Champions and Records Galore.” In Athletics: A History of Modern Track and Field Athletics. Milan: Garzanit Verga, 2000. Print.