I was very sorry to find out about the passing of Rafer Johnson at the age of 86, one of the country's great athletes, who won the Decathlon at the 1960 Olympics and was a great ambassador for the U.S. since.
How great? It would be too long to go into detail, but I'll just note that when the United States hosted the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, the person chosen to light the Olympic flame was Rafer Johnson.
I was very sorry to find out about the passing of Rafer Johnson at the age of 86, one of the country's great athletes, who won the Decathlon at the 1960 Olympics and was a great ambassador for the U.S. since.
This is a good, 4-minute video of Johnson's Gold Medal victory, in what's considered one of greatest decathlon competitions in Olympic history. Not just because it was between the two top athletes in the world at the time, but they also were not only close friends...but teammates at UCLA, even though they were representing different countries. I don't really have much of a personal story to pass along about Rafer Johnson, but he has a very nice autobiography, The Best That I Can Be, which was written with the talented Philip Goldberg, who I was friends with but alas haven't seen for years since moved out of state too long ago. The only time I cross paths with Rafer Johnson was when I went to a book-signing event. We didn't talk long -- there was a long line -- but he was gracious and spoke wonderfully about Phil, who over the years always spoke even far-higher of Rafer. On his Facebook page, Phil wrote this -- "I just got the sad news that one of the finest people I've ever known, Rafer Johnson, has passed away at 86. In the 90s I had the profound honor of working with Rafer on his autobiography, "The Best That I Can Be." It was a joy and an inspiration from start to finish, and we remained friends ever since. For those who don't know, or remember, Rafer was one of the greatest athletes in American history, and to my mind an even greater human being and citizen."
If you're interested in the book, you can find it here.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|