Athlete, Olympic Gold Medalist, Actor. Born Rafer Lewis Johnson, he was raised in California where he attended Kingsburg High School. During this period, he excelled as a multi-sport athlete who participated in baseball, football, basketball, and track and field. It would be in the latter sport in which he achieved fame on the world stage. He enrolled at UCLA and qualified for a spot on the US Olympic track and field team at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia; however, injuries prevented him from participating. He was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958, and two years later he received the James E. Sullivan Award as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States for his accomplishments in the decathlon. That same year (1960), he earned a spot on the US Olympic track and field team and went on to win a gold medal for the decathlon during the Summer Games in Rome, Italy. Johnson was chosen by the Los Angeles Rams during the 28th round of the 1959 NFL Draft, however, he chose to forgo a professional football career to focus on the Olympics. Johnson enjoyed a three-decade career in a wide range of film and television roles. Among his motion picture credits are "The Sins of Rachel Cade" (1961), "The Fiercest Heart" (1961), "Wild in the Country" (1961), "None But the Brave" (1965), "Tarzan and the Great River" (1967), "Tarzan and the Jungle Boy" (1968), "The Last Grenade" (1970) and "License to Kill" (1989). His television credits include "Lassie," "Daniel Boone," "Dragnet 1967," "Mission: Impossible" and "The Six Million Dollar Man." Johnson was present at the presidential election event where Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 and helped subdue the assassin. He was also the Olympic torch bearer who ignited the torch for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Rafer's younger brother Jimmy Johnson was a Hall of Fame professional football player (cornerback) with the San Francisco 49ers. Johnson was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974. He died of complications from a stroke.