whodiedtoday.com
  • Home
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • Celebrity
  • Dominica
  • More Important people
No Result
View All Result
WHODiedTODAY.COM
  • Home
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • Celebrity
  • Dominica
  • More Important people
No Result
View All Result
WHO DIED
No Result
View All Result
Rafer Johnson, 1960 Olympic decathlon champion, dies at 86

Rafer Johnson, 1960 Olympic decathlon champion, dead at 86

News Contributor by News Contributor
January 30, 2022
in Covid-19 Deaths 2020
0

LOS ANGELES — Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968, died Wednesday. He was 86.

According to family friend Michael Roth, he died at his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles. No cause of death was announced.

You might also like

Colin Powell, 84, dies from COVID-19 complications

Colin Powell, 84, died from COVID-19 complications

October 24, 2021
Pressure rises for India lockdown as covid-19 virus surge breaks record again.

Pressure rises for India lockdown as covid-19 virus surge breaks record again.

May 9, 2021

Johnson was among the world’s greatest athletes from 1955 through his Olympic triumph in 1960, winning a national decathlon championship in 1956 and a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics that same year.

His Olympic career included carrying the U.S. flag at the 1960 Games and lighting the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum’s torch to open the 1984 Games. Johnson set world records in the decathlon three different times amid a fierce rivalry with his UCLA teammate C.K. Yang of Taiwan and Vasily Kuznetsov of the former Soviet Union.

Johnson won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1955 while competing in his fourth decathlon. At a welcome home meet afterward in Kingsburg, California, he set his first world record, breaking the mark of a two-time Olympic champion and his childhood hero Bob Mathias.

On June 5, 1968, Johnson was working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign when the Democratic candidate was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Johnson joined former NFL star Rosey Grier and journalist George Plimpton in apprehending Sirhan Sirhan moments after he shot Kennedy, who died the next day.

“I knew he did everything he could to take care of Uncle Bobby at his most vulnerable moment,” Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver, said by phone. “His devotion to Uncle Bobby was pure and real. He had protected his friend. Even after Uncle Bobby’s death, he stayed close.”

Johnson later called the assassination “one of the most devastating moments in my life.”

Born Rafer Lewis Johnson on Aug. 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, he moved to California in 1945 with his family, including his brother Jim, a future NFL Hall of Fame inductee. Although some sources cite Johnson’s birth year as 1935, the family has said that is incorrect.

They eventually settled in Kingsburg, near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley. It was less than 25 miles from Tulare, the hometown of Mathias, who would win the decathlon at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and prove Johnson’s early inspiration.

LOS ANGELES — Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy's assassin in 1968, died Wednesday. He was 86.

According to family friend Michael Roth, he died at his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles. No cause of death was announced.

Johnson was among the world's greatest athletes from 1955 through his Olympic triumph in 1960, winning a national decathlon championship in 1956 and a silver medal at the Melbourne Olympics that same year.

His Olympic career included carrying the U.S. flag at the 1960 Games and lighting the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's torch to open the 1984 Games. Johnson set world records in the decathlon three different times amid a fierce rivalry with his UCLA teammate C.K. Yang of Taiwan and Vasily Kuznetsov of the former Soviet Union.

Johnson won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1955 while competing in his fourth decathlon. At a welcome home meet afterward in Kingsburg, California, he set his first world record, breaking the mark of a two-time Olympic champion and his childhood hero Bob Mathias.

On June 5, 1968, Johnson was working on Kennedy's presidential campaign when the Democratic candidate was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Johnson joined former NFL star Rosey Grier and journalist George Plimpton in apprehending Sirhan Sirhan moments after he shot Kennedy, who died the next day.

"I knew he did everything he could to take care of Uncle Bobby at his most vulnerable moment," Kennedy's niece, Maria Shriver, said by phone. "His devotion to Uncle Bobby was pure and real. He had protected his friend. Even after Uncle Bobby's death, he stayed close."

Johnson later called the assassination "one of the most devastating moments in my life."

Born Rafer Lewis Johnson on Aug. 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, he moved to California in 1945 with his family, including his brother Jim, a future NFL Hall of Fame inductee. Although some sources cite Johnson's birth year as 1935, the family has said that is incorrect.

They eventually settled in Kingsburg, near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley. It was less than 25 miles from Tulare, the hometown of Mathias, who would win the decathlon at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and prove Johnson's early inspiration.

Johnson was a standout student and played football, basketball, baseball, and track and field at Kingsburg Joint Union High. At 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds, he looked more like a linebacker than a track and field athlete.

During his junior year of high school, Johnson's coach took him to Tulare to watch Mathias compete in a decathlon; an experience Johnson later said spurred him to take up the grueling 10-event sport.

As a freshman at UCLA, where he received academic and athletic scholarships, Johnson won gold at the 1955 Pan Am Games and set a world record of 7,985 points.

After winning the national decathlon championship in 1956, Johnson was the favorite for the Olympics in Melbourne but pulled a stomach muscle and strained a knee while training. He was forced to withdraw from the long jump, for which he had also qualified, but tried to gut out the decathlon.

Johnson's teammate Milt Campbell, a virtual unknown, performed his life, finishing with 7,937 points to win gold, 350 ahead of Johnson.

It was the last time Johnson would ever come in second.
Johnson, Yang, and Kuznetzov had their way with the record books between the 1956 and 1960 Olympics.
Rafer Johnson, 1960 Olympic decathlon champion, dead at 86 1

Rafer Johnson was a standout student and played football, basketball, baseball, and track and field at Kingsburg Joint Union High. At 6-foot-3 and 200-plus pounds, he looked more like a linebacker than a track and field athlete.

During his junior year of high school, Johnson’s coach took him to Tulare to watch Mathias compete in a decathlon; an experience Johnson later said spurred him to take up the grueling 10-event sport.

As a freshman at UCLA, where he received academic and athletic scholarships, Johnson won gold at the 1955 Pan Am Games and set a world record of 7,985 points.

After winning the national decathlon championship in 1956, Johnson was the favorite for the Olympics in Melbourne but pulled a stomach muscle and strained a knee while training. He was forced to withdraw from the long jump, for which he had also qualified, but tried to gut out the decathlon.

Johnson’s teammate Milt Campbell, a virtual unknown, performed his life, finishing with 7,937 points to win gold, 350 ahead of Johnson.

It was the last time Johnson would ever come in second.
Johnson, Yang, and Kuznetzov had their way with the record books between the 1956 and 1960 Olympics.

Home  |  Rafer Johnson bio
Tags: Assassination of Robert F. KennedybasketballdecathlonDemocratic candidateGeorge PlimptonOlympic GamesOlympic medalistsPan Am GamesRaferRafer JohnsonRafer Lewis JohnsonSport of athleticssportsTaiwantexasThe Fiercest Heartthe Pan American GamesUCLAVasili Kuznetsov
News Contributor

News Contributor

Related Stories

Colin Powell, 84, dies from COVID-19 complications

Colin Powell, 84, died from COVID-19 complications

by News Contributor
October 24, 2021
0

Colin Powell was born in New York, a city, on April 5, 1937, and he died on – October 18, 2021....

Pressure rises for India lockdown as covid-19 virus surge breaks record again.

Pressure rises for India lockdown as covid-19 virus surge breaks record again.

by News Contributor
May 9, 2021
0

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced growing pressure Friday to impose a strict nationwide lockdown, despite...

Dawn Wells, Mary Ann from 'Gilligan's Island,' dead from COVID-19 at 82

Dawn Wells, Mary Ann from ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ dead from COVID-19 at 82

by News Contributor
December 30, 2020
0

Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann Summers on the campy, classic TV show "Gilligan's Island," has died from COVID-19, ABC...

Louisiana Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow Dies from Coronavirus at age 41

Luke Letlow, the incoming U.S. congressman, died of coronavirus at age 41

by News Contributor
December 30, 2020
0

Luke Letlow, Louisiana's incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, died Tuesday night from complications related to COVID-19 only days before being sworn into...

Next Post
Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing died at age 94

Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing died at age 94

  • About us ; WHODIEDTODAY
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • About us ; WHODIEDTODAY

© 2022 CAKAFETEINC FAMILY OF WEBSITES - Review -Products Review Products.

No Result
View All Result
  • About us ; WHODIEDTODAY
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms And Conditions

© 2022 CAKAFETEINC FAMILY OF WEBSITES - Review -Products Review Products.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version