Rafer Johnson
1934 - 2020
My first recollection of watching the Olympic Games is of the Rome Olympics of 1960. Lots of great names from those games including sprinter Wilma Rudolph and a young boxer named Cassius Clay, but probably the most celebrated of all was the American gold medalist in the decathlon, Rafer Johnson, who died this past week at the age of 86.
There was a time, not so much any more (and more on that later), that the winner of the Olympic Decathlon was recognized as "The Greatest Athlete in the World', and he more than lived up to that billing. A few things that I didn't know until I read his obituary this week. One, he played basketball at UCLA under Coach John Wooden. Two, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, even though he didn't play football in college. Three, choosing to concentrate on track and field and the decathlon, he won a silver medal in the event in the 1956 Games in Melbourne. Johnson went on to win the gold in Rome in particularly dramatic fashion edging out his UCLA teammate C.K Yang of Taiwan, who won silver. I am not going to go into detail here, but I would highly recommend a book called "Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World" by David Maraniss (2008). It tells the story of Johnson and many others from those entire Games. It is a terrific book.
Anyway, Johnson went on to great fame after those Olympics. He appeared in movies, got involved in politics as a supporter of Robert Kennedy, was involved in establishing the Special Olympics, and lit the Olympic Flame to begin the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He is famous for being present in the Ambassador Hotel in LA the night Robert Kennedy was shot and killed in 1968, and he was one of the people who wrestled the killer, Sirhan Sirhan to the ground and took the gun from his hand.
RIP Rafer Johnson, truly one of the greatest Olympians ever.
Lighting the Olympic Flame in 1984
With Kennedy in 1968
Now, some additional thoughts on the Decathlon. On the tribute that Tony Kornheiser gave to Johnson on yesterday's PTI, he mentioned the Olympic Decathlon champion being recognized as the World's Greatest Athlete, and he mentioned the names off Americans most closely associated with that title....Johnson, Bob Mathias, Bill Toomey, and Bruce Jenner...but who but the most dedicated track and field follower even know who holds that title anymore?
Well, I thougt, I don't know who the gold medalist in this event was in 2016, and without going to the Google Machine, can you name who that is? Well, I'll save you the trouble.
The Greatest Athlete in the World to emerge from Rio de Janeiro was an American, Ashton Eaton. Not only that, but Eaton also won the Gold Medal for the event in London in 2012. To me, that is a Very Big Deal for Americans in such an important event, and while I could be wrong about this, I don't even recall much of the Decathlon being televised in those two Games.
In 2008, American Brian Clay won gold, ending a two Olympic Games streak of an American not winning. In fact, in 23 Olympic Games, an athlete from the USA has brought home the Gold Medal fourteen times, and to honor those "Greatest Athletes in the World", here they are:
1912 - Jim Thorpe
1924 - Harold Olsen
1932 - Jim Bausch
1936 - Glenn Morris
1948 - Bob Mathias
1952 - Bob Mathias
1956 - Milt Campbell
1960 - Rafer Johnson
1968 - Bill Toomey
1976 - Bruce Jenner
1996 - Dan O'Brien
2008 - Brian Clay
2012 - Ashton Eaton
2016 - Ashton Eaton
Two time Gold Medalist Ashton Eaton
As you know, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed until 2021 due to the corona virus. We shall see if an American can take a fifteenth Gold in this event when, and if, those Games are played next year.
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