The LA84 Foundation, of which he was a founding
member, confirmed Johnson's death, saying he passed away at his
home in Los Angeles surrounded by family.
"Our sense of loss is only eclipsed by the gratitude we will
always feel for the opportunity to work so closely with Rafer.
He embodied the Olympic Movement," said Peter Ueberroth, CEO of
the 1984 Summer Olympics who chose Johnson to light the torch
for those Games.
"There are so many lives he touched and improved as a true hero
who cared deeply for others. Each day we are focused on honoring
his legacy."
After winning silver at the 1956 Melbourne Games, Johnson
claimed the top step on the Olympic podium four years later in
Rome, clinching the gold ahead of training partner C.K. Yang of
Taiwan with an Olympic record score.
The achievement earned Johnson the AAU James E. Sullivan Award
as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States,
putting his picture on the cover of Time and Sport Illustrated
magazines.
Johnson was a fine all-round sportsman. He was drafted by the
NFL's Los Angeles Rams as a running back in 1959 and played
basketball at UCLA under legendary coach John Wooden.
Johnson turned to acting after his athletics career.
Among his credits were parts in the Elvis Presley film Wild in
the Country and the James Bond movie License to Kill.
In 1968, while working on Kennedy’s presidential campaign,
Johnson was one of the men to subdue Sirhan Sirhan after he shot
and killed the U.S. presidential candidate.
"Olympic champion. Civil rights pioneer. Angeleno.
"Rafer Johnson was one of the greatest people I have ever known
— an athlete without peer, an eyewitness to history and a leader
in making it, a founder of the Special Olympics, a champion for
justice and our city," Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti said in a
Tweet.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)
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