Word: johnsons
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...husky U.S. Negro got a brotherly buss from the loser and a tremendous roar of approval from the 30,000 fans, as he mounted the winner's platform in Moscow's Lenin Stadium and smilingly held a bouquet of flowers aloft in triumph. Rafer Lewis Johnson, 22, of Kingsburg, Calif, had treated appreciative Muscovites to one of the greatest individual performances in track and field history. He had amassed a world-record 8,302 points in the rugged decathlon*—:considered by many the toughest test of human endurance ever devised in sport. Russian men and women edged...
...Gonna Win." To beat the muscular Kuznetsov, Rafe Johnson had to better his best, since only ten weeks ago Kuznetsov had scored 8,013-28 points better than Johnson's own world-record 7,985. The Russians shortened the interval between events from half an hour to 20 minutes, but it bothered Rafe not a bit. "I like the interval even shorter," he said, "only about five or ten minutes to catch my breath." With the event half over...
...Johnson increased his margin with a second in the hurdles, as Kuznetsov finished third. He won the discus, lost some ground when Kuznetsov edged him for second in the pole vault. Then Rafe uncorked a prodigious heave of 238 ft. 1⅞ in. for an easy triumph in the javelin, to sew it up. His winning margin was better than 400 points...
Back home in Kingsburg (pop. 23,000), Rafe's parents smiled happily when the local radio station interrupted a music program to announce his victory. But none of the town's inhabitants were very surprised. To the home-town folks, Johnson is a Samson, Paul Bunyan and Frank Merriwell rolled into one. His smoothly muscled build (6 ft. 3 in., 200 Ibs.) casts him in the mold of Jim Thorpe and Bob Mathias, great Olympic decathlon champions of the past. In high school he captained the track, basketball and football teams, is still remembered as a good infielder...
Entering U.C.L.A. in 1954, Johnson worked hard for Track Coach "Ducky" Drake, and improved quickly. "Johnson picks up things faster and better than most athletes," says Drake. "You tell him what to do and he can do it immediately." Rafe made the Olympic team in 1956, managed to finish second to Indiana...