Rafer Johnson

Rafer Johnson. University of California, Los Angeles. , No event in track and field is more challenging, physically or mentally, than the decathlon. , 1955 · UCLA freshman Rafer won the Pan American Games decathlon in Mexico City. , 1954-58 · He competed under UCLA coaches Craig Dixon and legendary Elvin "Ducky" Drake, winning his first national decathlon championship in 1956. , Hampered by an injury, he took the silver medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. , Johnson would never lose another decathlon. , With the world record, three national AAU championships and Olympic silver medal, he competed against his friend/training partner C.K. Yang of Taiwan in the 1960 Olympic Games. After a grueling and hard-fought competition, Rafer won the gold medal. , 1959-60 · Played on UCLA men's basketball team under coach John Wooden. Elected UCLA student body president his senior year. , 1960 · He received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top U.S. amateur athlete, the first African American athlete so honored. Named Associated Press athlete of the year and Track and Field athlete of the year. , , 1974 · Inducted into National Track and Field Hall of Fame. , 1984 · Charter inductee into UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. , 1994 · First class of the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. , 1998 · ESPN 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. , 2006 · NCAA's one of 200 Most Influential Student Athletes of Past 100 Years. , , Twenty-four years after his gold medal performance in Rome, Rafer Johnson again held the world spellbound. As the final Olympic torchbearer, he climbed 96 stairs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and lit the flame to open the games of the XXIII Olympiad.