Ten Greatest American Summer Olympians: No. 6 Rafer Johnson
Rafer Johnson only competed in two Olympics and won just two medals, but his impact was so great that he belongs on this list. He is the epitome of what an Olympic athlete should be.
Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas on August 18, 1935 in abject poverty and a world consumed by segregation and discrimination. His family moved to Kingsburg, California in the 1940s, where they lived in a railroad boxcar for their first few years in town. Life was extremely difficult at a young age, but in high school Johnson found his talent.
At Kingsburg High School, Johnson was dominant in football, basketball, baseball and track. He decided early that he wanted to focus on the decathlon, and turned down football scholarships to concentrate on track. That was a wise decision.
He wound up attending UCLA where he became a star. In just his fourth career competition, Johnson broke the world record in the decathlon. He won gold at the Pan-Am Games in 1955, and went to the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne as one of the favorites despite being just 20 years old.
In Melbourne, Johnson dealt with a knee injury and a torn stomach muscle, but still dogged fellow American Milt Campbell throughout the competition. Campbell took the gold with an Olympic record score of 7937, while Johnson grabbed silver and finished with 7587. Johnson would never lose another decathlon competition.
While the torch was passed to him after the 1956 Games as America’s best hope in the event, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 track seasons because of injury. In 1959 he was in a car accident that severely injured his back and didn’t compete for more than a year. Despite those injuries, he set new world records in the decathlon in both 1958 and 1960.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Johnson was named the captain of the United States team and became the first African American to carry the U.S. flag in the Opening Ceremonies. At those games he engaged in the greatest decathlon competition in Olympic history with friend, training partner and UCLA teammate C.K. Yang. Yang was representing Taiwan (the Republic of China) at the games, but both men had long trained under UCLA track coach Elvin “Ducky” Drake and had become extremely close friends.
The two competitors engaged in what was the greatest duel in Olympic history over the two-day competition. The back-and-forth affair was highlighted by Yang winning five of the 10 disciplines, but Johnson outpacing him by so much in throwing events that he maintained a slim lead.
Heading into the final event, the 1,500 meters, Johnson held a slight lead of 67 points. Yang needed to beat Johnson by 10 seconds to snatch gold from his rival and his best 1,500 meter time of 4:36 was 18.2 seconds faster than Johnson’s. They toed the starting line at 9:15 p.m. in one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the modern Olympics.
Johnson’s strategy was just to stay close, and he did so until the final lap, when Yang kicked into his sprint. But to everyone’s surprise, Johnson didn’t fall away, he stayed right with Yang and finished just a few feet behind him, 1.2 seconds back. As he crossed the line, Johnson rested his head on Yang’s shoulder, in an enduring image of Olympic sportsmanship. He had his gold medal with an Olympic record if 8,392 points, just 58 more than Yang.
While at UCLA, Johnson played for John Wooden on the 1959-60 basketball team and was also selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 1959 NFL Draft. He had plenty of opportunities to continue with his athletic career, but after his incredible showing at the 1960 Olympics he retired from sports.
Johnson had an acting career and worked as a sportscaster after retiring, while also serving in the Peace Corps in 1961. In 1968 he worked on Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, and he and Rosey Grier were the two men who tackled Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan immediately after he shot the presidential candidate. Johnson was given the honor of lighting the torch at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The 80-year-old Johnson has remained active in the community over the years, has been involved with the Special Olympics for nearly 50 years and now acts as an adviser to UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero.
Johnson could have been anything he wanted athletically, but he chose to represent his country in the decathlon. He was one of the best to ever do so, making his spot on this list secure.
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