SAG-AFTRA Mourns the Passing of Former Board Member Rafer Johnson

SAG-AFTRA celebrates the life and accomplishments of Rafer Johnson, former decathlete, Olympic gold medalist, actor, sports commentator, news broadcaster and former member of the national boards of SAG and AFTRA in the 1960s and ’70s. Rafer died Wednesday at the age of 86.

“There are truly no words to describe the phenomenal man Rafer Johnson was,” noted SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “It is rare to find someone so versatile and driven, with as much passion and dedication to his athletics, career and to his community. His breadth of knowledge and fearlessness made him a strong leader. We send our condolences to his family.”

Johnson was an exceptional athlete, first distinguishing himself in high school, where he won both the 1953 and 1954 California state high school decathlon competitions. He competed in his first decathlon at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1954. The next year, he won the gold medal title at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, setting one of his three decathlon world records. He also led UCLA to winning its first championship in NCAA track and field in 1956, and served as UCLA’s student body president during his senior year.

Despite injuries setting him back in the 1956 Olympic Games, where he placed with a silver medal, in the 1960 Olympic Games, Johnson won a gold medal in the decathlon and was the first African American athlete to carry the U.S. flag during the Olympic procession. Additionally, Johnson was the first African American recipient of the annual James E. Sullivan Award — an esteemed honor presented to the United States’ most outstanding amateur athlete — and was voted Track and Field News World Athlete of the Year in 1960.

After the 1960 Olympic Games, Johnson pursued new challenges in the entertainment industry. He acted in notable films, including None But the Brave (1965), The Black 6 (1973) and License to Kill (1989), as well as television shows like Daniel Boone, Mission: Impossible and The Six Million Dollar Man.

Johnson was also involved in Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968, and he helped tackle Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, immediately after the attack.

Johnson devoted his time to various organizations and causes. He served on the national boards of Screen Actors Guild from 1965 – 1968 and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ from 1967 – 1973. He co-founded the California Special Olympics in 1969, holding a competition for 900 individuals with intellectual disabilities at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Johnson also worked closely with the Urban League, the NAACP, the Hershey Track and Field Youth Program, and the Athletic Advisory Panel of the U.S. State Department. In 1998, Doubleday released his autobiography, appropriately titled The Best That I Can Be.

Photo caption: Rafer Johnson in 1959 with his Screen Actors Guild membership card. Photo courtesy SAG-AFTRA Archives.  

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.