Johnson, Rafer L.
Track and Field
b. Aug. 18, 1935, Hillsboro, TX
All decathletes are outstanding all-around athletes by definition, but Johnson proved his all-around ability in several sports. He was the star halfback on the Kingsburg, CA, High School football team that won three state championships, he batted over .400 for the baseball team, averaged more than 17 points a game for the basketball team, and was an outstanding sprinter and long jumper on the track team.
But his athletic future was decided when, as a high school junior, he saw Bob Mathias in a decathlon meet. "I could have beaten most of those guys in that meet," he told his high school track coach on the way home. Less than a month later, he won the state junior decathlon championship. In his fourth attempt at the event, in 1955, he set a world record of 7,985 points.
Johnson won the decathlon at the 1955 Pan-American Games. In 1956, he qualified for the Olympic team in the long jump and the decathlon but, because of an injury, he withdrew from the long jump competition. He finished second to Milt Campbell in the decathlon and was never again beaten.
In the 1958 dual meet between the U. S. and the Soviet Union, Johnson beat Valeri Kuznyetsov with a world record 8,302 points. However, he suffered a severe back injury in an automobile accident in 1959 and, while he was in the hospital, Kuznyetsov set a new record of 8,357 points. Unable to train for more than a year and a half, Johnson returned in 1960 and extended the record to 8,683 points, beating his UCLA teammate, C. K. Yang of Formosa.
Johnson became the first black to carry the American flag at the Olympic ceremonies in 1960, and he went on to win a close duel with Yang. After nine events, Johnson led by only 67 points and the 1,500-meter run, the final event, was one of his weakest. If Yang would run 10 seconds faster than Johnson, he'd win the decathlon--and, since Yang's personal best was 18 seconds better than Johnson's, there was a good chance that would happen.
But Johnson hung on doggedly and ran a personal best of 4:49.7, finishing just a second behind Yang to claim the gold medal with a score of 8,392 to Yang's 8,334. He was named Associated Press Athlete of the Year for his accomplishment.
In 1984, Johnson was selected to light the torch at the opening ceremonies of the Los Angeles Olympics.