Rafer Johnson dies at 86. Kingsburg athlete won Olympic gold, helped subdue Robert Kennedy assassin

Rafer Johnson, the Olympic decathlete who spent his formative years in the central San Joaquin Valley before becoming a sports icon, actor and humanitarian, has died.

Johnson died at his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, family friend Michael Roth announced Wednesday. No cause of death was announced. He was 86.

“America lost a sports icon last night with the passing of Rafer Johnson,” ESPN SportsCenter anchor Michael Eves wrote in a four-part thread on Twitter.

“At one point, he was viewed as the best athlete in the world after winning the silver medal in the decathlon at the 1956 Olympics followed by the gold in 1960,” Eves wrote.

Johnson set world records in the decathlon three different times and was Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsman of the Year” in 1958. Two years later he would carry the U.S. flag at the Olympics in Rome.

Twenty-four years later he opened the 1984 Olympics by lighting the torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Outside of sports, Johnson was known for being at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. Johnson was working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign and was one of three men (along with NFL star Rosey Grier and journalist George Plimpton ) who apprehended Sirhan Sirhan moments after he shot Kennedy.

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

After retiring from sports, Johnson also had a run in movies, including roles alongside Elvis Presley (“Wild in the Country”) and Frank Sinatra (“None But the Brave”). He was also in the the 1989 James Bond film “License to Kill.”

Johnson was also widely known for serving on the organizing committee of the first Special Olympics in Chicago in 1968. He started the California Special Olympics the following year.

Rafer Johnson: ‘My Life in Kingsburg’

Johnson was born Aug. 18, 1934, in Hillsboro, Texas, and moved to California in 1945 with his family (including brother Jim Johnson, who would also become a star athlete and NFL Hall of Fame inductee with the San Francisco 49ers).

The family settled in Kingsburg, where Johnson became a standout athlete (he played football, basketball, baseball and track and field) and student at Kingsburg Joint Union High.

He was the student body president.

After graduating, he attended UCLA, where he also served as student body president.

Johnson remembered his life in Kingsburg during a talk with students there in 1991. He acknowledged the community and his high school teachers for helping him build a strong foundation that carried him to the Olympic gold.

In fact, the town was on his mind in 1984 when he stood at the L.A. Coliseum to light the Olympic flame.

“As I stood there lighting the flame, I thought back on moments in this town,” Johnson said.

“I thought back on my friends in Kingsburg, California. I thought back on this (gym) because it was the beginning for me. Here, I began to build a foundation, and I can truly say that what successes have occurred in my life had a great deal to do with how I started and the support I got right here in Kingsburg.”

Johnson singled out his high school track coach, Murl Dodson, for inspiring him to pursue the decathlon.

And the town has honored Johnson.

His likeness is depicted on a mural on the Fresno County Library branch building on Draper Street. In 1993, Kingsburg voted to name its new junior high after the athlete. Johnson’s name got 81% of the vote, beating out Thomas Jefferson and Kingsburg Junior High School as possible names.

“It’s a great responsibility to have a school named after me. I’ve been honored all over the world, but to be honored in your hometown, it’s just very special,” Johnson told a crowd at the school’s dedication. He received a standing ovation.

A family legacy

Johnson’s children two children, Jenny Johnson Jordan and Josh Johnson, followed their father’s and became athletes themselves. Jenny was a beach volleyball player who competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and is on the coaching staff of UCLA’s beach volleyball team. Josh competed in javelin at UCLA, where he was an All-American.

Besides Betsy, his wife of 49 years, and his children, Johnson is survived by son-in-law Kevin Jordan and four grandchildren.

The Associated Press contributed to the story.

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Rafer Johnson dies at 86. Kingsburg athlete won Olympic gold, helped subdue Robert Kennedy assassin."