Rafer Johnson - Biography

Biography

Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's football, baseball and basketball teams. He was also elected class president in both junior high and high school. At 16, he became attracted to the decathlon after seeing double Olympic champion Bob Mathias compete and told his coach, "I could have beaten most of those guys."

He competed in his first meet in 1954 as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). 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 nondiscriminatory fraternity, and was class president at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the title at the Pan American Games.

Johnson qualified for both the decathlon and the long jump events for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. Despite this handicap, he managed to take second place in the decathlon behind compatriot Milt Campbell. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event.

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 1960. The crown to his career came at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. His most serious rival was Yang Chuan-Kwang (C. K. Yang) of Taiwan. Yang also studied at UCLA; the two trained together under UCLA track coach Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake and had become friends. In the decathlon, the lead swung back and forth between them. Finally, after nine events, Johnson led Yang by a small margin, but Yang was known to be better in the final event, the 1500 m. Johnson however managed to stay close enough to Yang to win the gold. With this victory, Johnson ended his athletic career.

At UCLA, Johnson also played basketball under legendary coach John Wooden and was a starter on the 1959-60 men's basketball team. Wooden considered Johnson a great defensive player, but sometimes regretted holding back his teams early in his coaching career, remarking, "imagine Rafer Johnson on the break."

Johnson was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 28th round (333rd overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft as a running back.

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. 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.The role eventually went to another UCLA and NFL great, Woody Strode. In 1960, he began acting in motion pictures and working as a sportscaster. In the 1963-1964 season, he appeared on an episode of ABCs drama about college life, Channing starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones. Johnson made several film appearances including the James Bond film Licence to Kill as a DEA agent. After his acting career, he worked full-time as a sportscaster in the early 1970's. He weekend sports anchored on the local L.A. NBC news, but seemed uncomfortable in that position and eventually moved on to other things.

Johnson served briefly in the Peace Corps just after its founding in 1961. In 1968, he worked on the presidential election campaign of Robert F. Kennedy and with the help of Rosey Grier, he apprehended Sirhan Sirhan immediately after Sirhan had assassinated Kennedy. He discusses the experience in his autobiography, "The Best That I Can Be" (published in 1999 by Galilee Trade Publishing and co-authored with Philip Goldberg).

Rafer Johnson is the spokesperson for Hershey's Track & Field Games and is very involved in Special Olympics Southern California (www.sosc.org). After attending the first Special Olympics competition in Chicago in 1968, conducted by Special Olympics founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was inspired to be come involved. Johnson, along with a small group of volunteers, then founded California Special Olympics in 1969 by conducting a competition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for 900 individuals with intellectual disabilites. Following the first California Games in 1969, Johnson became one of the original members of the Board of Directors. The Board worked together to raise funds and offer a modest program of swimming and track and field. 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 fundrasing efforts. He was elected president and served in the capacity until 1992, when he was named Chairman of the Board of Governers.

Johnson's brother Jimmy is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his daughter Jennifer competed in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney following her collegiate career at UCLA.