Rafer Lewis Johnson was an American decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. Johnson was the USA team’s flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. After he retired from athletics, Johnson turned to acting, sportscasting, and public service.
About Rafer Johnson in brief
Rafer Lewis Johnson was an American decathlete and film actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. Johnson was the USA team’s flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. In 1968, Johnson, football player Rosey Grier, and journalist George Plimpton tackled Sirhan Sirhan moments after he had fatally shot Robert F. Kennedy. After he retired from athletics, Johnson turned to acting, sportscasting, and public service and was instrumental in creating the California Special Olympics. His acting career included appearances in The Sins of Rachel Cade, the Elvis Presley film Wild in the Country, Pirates of Tortuga, None but the Brave, two Tarzan films with Mike Henry, The Last Grenade, Soul Soldier, Roots: The Next Generations, the James Bond film Licence to Kill, and Think Big. Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas on August 18, 1934.
His family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was aged nine. He played on Kingsburg High School’s football, baseball and basketball teams. He also won the 1953 and 1954 California state high school decathlon meets. In 1954 as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles, his progress in the event was impressive; he broke the world record in his fourth competition. He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America’s first non-discriminatory fraternity, and was class president at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the title at the Pan American Games. Due to injury, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 seasons, but he breaking the world Record in 1958 and again in 1960. Johnson qualified for both the decathletes and the long jump events for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, but he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the longjump.
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