HIS HEART WAS GOLD
Johnson, Olympic champion and humanitarian, dies at 86
Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, the decathlon champion of the 1960 Rome Summer Games who later helped disarm friend Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin, died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home. He was 86.
Johnson emerged as one of the world’s greatest athletes between 1955-60, winning a gold in just his fourth decathlon at the ’55 Pan American Games. He returned later that year to set his first world record in California, breaking the mark of two-time Olympic champion and childhood hero Bob Mathias.
One year later, he captured both a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics and a national decathlon championship to set the stage for his 1960 gold. The Olympian was also among the earliest proponents of the Special Olympics,Olympics joining in the launch of the ground-breaking movement for the intellectually and physically disabled.
Johnson was surrounded by family memberss when he passedd away, and a pri-vate memoriall service will bee held, accordingg to a statementt. No cause ofo death wass provided.
“He stood for what he believed in and he did it in a very classy way with grace and dignity,” said Olympic champion swimmer Janet Evans, who invited Johnson to her 2004 wedding. “Rafer really paved the path for many of us to understand the responsibilities that come with being a successful athlete and the number of lives you can impact and change.”
Johnson carried the U.S. flag as an athlete at the 1960 Games and lit the torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to open the 1984 Games. He set world records in the decathlon three different times, and started on the 1958-59 UCLA basketball team under Hall of Fame coach John Wooden.
“My heart hurts,” tweeted twotime U.S. Olympic skater Tai Babalonia after his death. “My friend, my idol, my mentor, it was you who taught me early on to always give back & pay it forward — I watched & learned from the best!”
Johnson was working on RFK’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination in Los Angeles when a gunman mortally wounded Kennedy inside the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968. Johnson joined former NFL star Rosey Grier and journalist George Plimpton in subduing killer Sirhan Sirhan.
“I know he did everything he could to take care of Uncle Bobby at his most vulnerable moment,”
RFK’s niece Maria Shriver told Associated Press after learning of Johnson’s death. “His devotion to Uncle Bobby was pure and real. He had protected his friend.”
That same year, Johnson served on the organizing committee of the first Special Olympics in Chicago in 1968, working with founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The native of Hillsboro, Texas, was not the family’s only athlete, as younger brother Jim became an NFL Hall of Famer with the San Francisco 49ers.
The standout student-athlete, at 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds, starred in football, basketball, baseball and track and field at Kingsburg Joint Union High. As a high school junior, his track coach took Johnson to watch Bob Mathias — and inspiration struck.
As a UCLA freshman, Johnson won gold at the the 1955 Pan Am Games with a world record point total. He captured the national decathlon title a year later, and finished second at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics despite a pulled stomach muscle and straining knee.
He was named Associated Press Athlete of the Year and won the
Sullivan Award as the nation’s outstanding amateur athlete after his 1960 gold medal. Johnson retired after the Rome Olympics, appearing in several movies and working briefly as a TV sportscaster.
Throughout his life, Johnson became renowed known for his humanitarian efforts with the Peace Corps, March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association and American Red Cross.
He was survived by his wife of 49 years, their two children, son-in-law Kevin Jordan and four grandchildren.