Medal record
Men's athletics
Competitor for  United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1960 Rome	Decathlon
Silver	1956 Melbourne	Decathlon
Pan American Games
Gold	1955 Mexico City	Decathlon

Rafer Lewis Johnson (born August 18, 1935) is an American former decathlete and film actor.

Biography[link]

Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but the family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town.^[1] A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's football, baseball and basketball teams. He was also elected class president in both junior high and high school.^[1] At 16, he became attracted to the decathlon after seeing double Olympic champion Bob Mathias compete and told his coach, "I could have beaten most of those guys."^[1]

He competed in his first meet in 1954 as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His progress in the event was impressive; he broke the world record in his fourth competition.^[1] He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America's first nondiscriminatory fraternity, and was class president^[1] at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the title at the Pan American Games.

Johnson qualified for both the decathlon and the long jump events for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. Despite this handicap, he managed to take second place in the decathlon behind compatriot Milt Campbell. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event.

Due to injury, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 seasons (the latter due to a car accident), but he broke the world record in 1958 and 1960. The crown to his career came at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. His most serious rival was Yang Chuan-Kwang (C. K. Yang) of Taiwan. Yang also studied at UCLA; the two trained together under UCLA track coach Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake and had become friends. In the decathlon, the lead swung back and forth between them. Finally, after nine events, Johnson led Yang by a small margin, but Yang was known to be better in the final event, the 1500 m. Johnson however managed to stay close enough to Yang to win the gold. With this victory, Johnson ended his athletic career.

At UCLA, Johnson also played basketball under legendary coach John Wooden and was a starter on the 1959-60 men's basketball team.^[2] Wooden considered Johnson a great defensive player, but sometimes regretted holding back his teams early in his coaching career, remarking, "imagine Rafer Johnson on the break."^[1]

Johnson was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 28th round (333rd overall) of the 1959 NFL Draft as a running back.

While training for the 1960 Olympics, his friend Kirk Douglas told him about a part in Spartacus that Douglas thought might make him a star: the Ethiopian gladiator Draba, who refuses to kill Spartacus (played by Douglas) after defeating him in a duel. Johnson read for and got the role, but was forced to turn it down because the Amateur Athletic Union told him it would make him a professional and therefore ineligible for the Olympics.^[1]The role eventually went to another UCLA and NFL great, Woody Strode. In 1960, he began acting in motion pictures and working as a sportscaster. He weekend sports anchored on the local L.A. NBC news, but seemed uncomfortable in that position. In the 1963-1964 season, he appeared on an episode of ABCs drama about college life, Channing starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones. Johnson made several film appearances including the James Bond film Licence to Kill as a DEA agent.

Johnson served briefly in the Peace Corps just after its founding in 1961. In 1968, he worked on the presidential election campaign of Robert F. Kennedy and helped Rosey Grier apprehend Sirhan Sirhan immediately after Sirhan had assassinated Kennedy.^[1] Reporter Andrew West of KRKD, a Mutual Broadcasting System radio affiliate in Los Angeles, captured on audio tape the sounds of the immediate aftermath of the shooting and the struggle with Sirhan in the hotel kitchen pantry, famously shouting "Get the gun, Rafer, get the gun!"

Johnson discussed the experience in his autobiography, "The Best That I Can Be" (published in 1999 by Galilee Trade Publishing and co-authored with Philip Goldberg).

Rafer Johnson is the spokesperson for Hershey's Track & Field Games and is very involved in Special Olympics Southern California (www.sosc.org), having been one of the founding members after Eunice Kennedy Shriver invited him to lead the movement in southern California.

Johnson's brother Jimmy is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his daughter Jennifer competed in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney following her collegiate career at UCLA.

Honors[link]

Johnson was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958^[3] and won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1960, breaking that award's color barrier. He was chosen to ignite the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.^[1] In 1994, he was elected into the first class of the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was named one of ESPN's 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. In 2006, the NCAA named him one of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes of the past 100 years.^[4] On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Johnson would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. Johnson is a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll. Rafer Johnson Junior High School in Kingsburg, California is named after Johnson, as are Rafer Johnson Community Day School and Rafer Johnson Children's Center, both in Bakersfield, California. This last school, which has classes for special education students from the ages of birth-5, also puts on an annual Rafer Johnson Day. Every year He speaks at the event and cheers on hundreds of students with special needs as they participate in a variety of track and field events. Every year, in mid-April, UCLA hosts the Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational, a 3 day track and field festival that is the school's premiere event of the year.^[5]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Maraniss, David (2008). Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed The World. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-3408-3. 

External links[link]

• Video clip from 1984 Summer Olympics, including Rafer Johnson lighting the Olympic Flame

Olympic Games
Preceded by Norman Cohn-Armitage	Flagbearer for  United States Rome 1960	Succeeded by Parry O'Brien
Preceded by Sergei Belov	Final Summer Olympic Torchbearer Los Angeles 1984	Succeeded by Chung Sun-Man, Sohn Mi-Chung and Kim Won-Tak
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Martin Lauer	Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1960	Succeeded by Ralph Boston
Records
Preceded by Bob Mathias	Men's decathlon world record holder June 11, 1955 – May 18, 1958	Succeeded by Vasili Kuznetsov
Preceded by Vasili Kuznetsov	Men's decathlon world record holder July 28, 1958 – May 17, 1959	Succeeded by Vasili Kuznetsov
Preceded by Vasili Kuznetsov	Men's decathlon world record holder July 9, 1960 – April 28, 1963	Succeeded by Yang Chuan-Kwang

The California Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, and members of sports media who have made a "lasting impression to California sports". It was established in 2006 by Christian Okoye, former All-Pro running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. The California Sports Hall of Fame made its first Induction in January 2007.

History[link]

California Sports Hall of Fame has no permanent headquarters yet. After he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Christian Okoye approached the late Bill Walsh, Tommy Lasorda and coach John Wooden to help establish a Hall of Fame in California. 19 Sports heroes were then inducted in the inaugural ceremony.

Selection process[link]

Nominations for the Hall of Fame are open to the public. The public send in names and final selection belong the board member and then current members. The Hall of Fame, with assistance from the president and founder, notifies the winning nominees once the voting process has been tabulated. If the winning nominees accept their induction, they must then attend the dinner celebration to be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame. If a nominee rejects or is unable to attend their induction, the Hall of Fame inducts the next highest vote getter. If a nominee declines their induction for 3 consecutive years without reason, the nominee will not be eligible for the 3 years.

Inductees[link]

2007[link]

• Reggie Jackson
• Jackie Robinson
• Elgin Baylor
• Wilt Chamberlain
• Magic Johnson
• Jerry West
• Tom Flores
• Bill Walsh
• Tommy Lasorda
• John Wooden
• Eric Dickerson
• Marcus Allen
• Deacon Jones
• Jim Plunkett
• Chick Hearn
• Raefer Johnson
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee
• Bob Mathias

2008[link]

• Willie Mays
• Dave Winfield
• Cheryl Miller
• Dan Fouts
• Vin Scully
• Donald Quarie
• UCLA Bruins basketball
• De La Salle High School football

2009[link]

• Steve Garvey
• Ann Myers-Drysdale
• Rosey Grier
• Jim Murray
• Mike Powell
• Karch Kirlay

2010[link]

• Bill Walton
• Jim Hill
• Billie Jean King
• Fred Biletnikoff
• Dwight Stones
• Jim Otto
• Merlin Olsen
• Sinjin Smith

External links[link]

• California Sports Hall of Fame

Jackie Joyner

Kersee (in white) standing behind President Barack Obama
Personal information
Full name	Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Nationality	American
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long jump, Heptathlon
Medal record Women's Athletics Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1988 Seoul Heptathlon Gold 1988 Seoul Long jump Gold 1992 Barcelona Heptathlon Silver 1984 Los Angeles Heptathlon Bronze 1992 Barcelona Long jump Bronze 1996 Atlanta Long jump World Championships Gold 1987 Rome Long jump Gold 1987 Rome Heptathlon Gold 1991 Tokyo Long jump Gold 1993 Stuttgart Heptathlon Pan American Games Gold 1987 Indianapolis Long jump

Jacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those two events at four different Olympic Games. Sports Illustrated for Women magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th century, just ahead of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

After retiring as a competitive athlete, Joyner-Kersee has been involved with many philanthropic efforts and has joined the Board of Directors for USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body of the sport.^[1]

Early life[link]

Jacqueline Joyner was born March 3, 1962, in East St. Louis, Illinois, and was named after Jackie Kennedy. As a high school athlete at East St. Louis Lincoln High School, she qualified for the finals in the Long Jump at the 1980 Olympic Trials, finishing 8th behind another high schooler, Carol Lewis.^[2] She was inspired to compete in multi-disciplinary track & field events after seeing a 1975 made-for-TV movie about Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Interestingly, Didrikson, the trackster, basketball player, and pro golfer, was chosen the "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. Fifteen years later, "Sports Illustrated for Women" magazine voted Joyner-Kersee the greatest female athlete of "all time".

UCLA[link]

Joyner-Kersee attended college at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she starred in both track & field and in women's basketball from 1980-1985. She was a starter in her forward position for each of her first three seasons (1980–81, 81-82, and 82-83) as well as in her senior (fifth) year, 1984-1985. She had red-shirted during the 1983-1984 academic year to concentrate on the heptathlon for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

She scored 1,167 points during her collegiate career, which places her 19th all time for the Bruins games.^[3] The Bruins advanced to the West Regional semi-finals of the 1985 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament before losing to eventual runner-up Georgia.^[3]

She was honored on 21 February 1998 as one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball.^[4] In April 2001, Joyner-Kersee was voted the "Top Woman Collegiate Athlete of the Past 25 Years." The vote was conducted among the 976 NCAA member schools.^[5]

Competition[link]

1984 Summer Olympics[link]

Joyner-Kersee competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and won the silver medal in the heptathlon.

1986 Goodwill Games[link]

Joyner-Kersee was the first woman to score over 7,000 points in a heptathlon event (during the 1986 Goodwill Games). In 1986, she received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

1988 Summer Olympics[link]

In the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Joyner-Kersee earned gold medals in both the heptathlon and the long jump. At the 1988 Games in Seoul, she set the still-standing heptathlon world record of 7,291 points. The silver and bronze medalists were Sabine John and Anke Vater-Behmer, both of whom were representing East Germany. Five days later, Joyner won her second gold medal, leaping to an Olympic record of 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) in the long jump.

1991 World Championships Tokyo[link]

She was everyone's favorite to retain both her World titles earned four years earlier in Rome. However her challenge was dramatically halted when, having won the long jump easily with a 7.32 m (24 ft 0 in) jump no one would beat, she slipped on the take off board and careened head first into the pit, luckily avoiding serious injury. She did, however, strain a hamstring, which led to her having to pull out of the heptathlon during the 200 m at the end of the first day.

1992 Summer Olympics[link]

In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Joyner-Kersee earned her second Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. She also won the bronze medal in the long jump which was won by her friend Heike Drechsler of Germany.

1996 Summer Olympics[link]

At the Olympic Trials, Joyner-Kersee sustained an injury to her right hamstring. When the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia began, Joyner-Kersee was not fully recovered by the time the heptathlon started. After running the first event, the 100 m hurdles, the pain was unbearable and she withdrew. She was able to recover well enough to compete in the long jump and qualify for the final, but was in sixth place in the final with one jump remaining. Her final jump of 7.00 m (23 ft 0 in) was long enough for her to win the bronze medal. The Atlanta Olympics would be the last Olympics of Joyner-Kersee's long competitive career.

Professional Basketball Career[link]

In 1996 she signed on to play pro basketball for the Richmond Rage of the fledgling American Basketball League. Although she was very popular with the fans, she was less successful on the court. She appeared in only 17 games, and scored no more than four points in any game.

1998 Goodwill Games[link]

Returning to track, Joyner-Kersee won the heptathlon again at the 1998 Goodwill Games, scoring 6,502 points.

2000 Olympic Trials[link]

Joyner-Kersee made her final bow in track & field competition in 2000. She was sixth in the long jump (21-10.75) at the Olympic Trials.

Awards and honors[link]

• 1986 Jesse Owens Award ^[6]
• 1987 Jesse Owens Award ^[6]
• 2010 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards honoree.
• 2011 Dick Enberg Award, College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA)

Current world records[link]

As of May 2012^[update], Joyner-Kersee holds the world record in heptathlon along with the top six all time best results whilst her long jump record of 7.49 m is second on the long jump all time list. In addition to heptathlon and long jump, she was a world class athlete in 100 m hurdles and 200 meters being as of June 2006^[update] in top 60 all time in those events.

Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

Joyner-Kersee consistently has maintained that she has competed throughout her career without performance-enhancing drugs.^[7][8]

Personal bests[link]

Personal bests 

• 100 metres hurdles : 12.61 s
• Long jump : 7.49 m
• High jump : 1.93 m
• 200 m : 22.30 s
• Shot put : 16.84 m
• Javelin throw : 50.12 m
• 800 m : 2 min 8.51 s

Personal life[link]

Jackie's brother is the Olympic champion triple jumper Al Joyner, who was married to another Olympic track champion, the late Florence Griffith-Joyner. Jackie married her track coach, Bob Kersee, in 1986.

In 1988, Joyner-Kersee established the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, which provides youth, adults, and families with athletic lessons and the resources to improve their quality of life with special attention directed to East St. Louis, Illinois. In 2007, Jackie Joyner-Kersee along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr. founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization, which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires millions of non-athletes to volunteer and support the community.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• IAAF profile for Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Sports Reference

• USA Track and Field bio
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• The Jackie Joyner Kersee Foundation, founded by Jackie and her husband.

Records
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump World Record Holder equalled the 7.45 mark by Heike Drechsler August 13, 1987 — June 11, 1988	Succeeded by Galina Chistyakova
Preceded by Sabine John	Women's Heptathlon World Record Holder July 7, 1986 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Marita Koch	Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1986 – 1987	Succeeded by Florence Griffith-Joyner
Preceded by Martina Navratilova	Flo Hyman Memorial Award 1988	Succeeded by Evelyn Ashford
Preceded by Wang Junxia	Women's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Sonia O'Sullivan
Sporting positions
Preceded by Sabine John	Women's Heptathlon Best Year Performance 1984 — 1988	Succeeded by Larisa Nikitina
Preceded by Larisa Nikitina	Women's Heptathlon Best Year Performance 1990 — 1993	Succeeded by Heike Drechsler
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1987	Succeeded by Galina Chistyakova
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1994	Succeeded by Heike Drechsler
Preceded by Heike Drechsler	Women's Long Jump Best Year Performance 1996	Succeeded by Lyudmila Galkina