WThe news that an 86-year-old died in Sherman Oaks, a small town in California, went down these days. He fell asleep peacefully with his family. At that point, the Rafer Johnson story actually ends before it began.
When an 86-year-old dies, at first glance it has the news value of the announcement that another wheel has fallen over in Beijing. 86 is an age when dying is more a part of life than ever. But let’s pause for a moment: In this case, it is worth taking a second look – because a life has come to an end that we normal mortals cannot imagine.
Olympic champion Rafer Johnson lit the Olympic flame at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. He died at the age of 86
Those: pa / dpa / AP / Damian Dovarganes
Fate shuffles the cards and we play, says Schopenhauer. Sometimes this fate even plays with a person in such a way that he becomes famous twice in his life. Fate brought the most beautiful and the worst day of his life to the deceased of Sherman Oaks.
Let’s start with the good. The glorious day Rafer Johnson became the world’s most famous athlete was a summer day at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Johnson led the American team in 1960 as the standard bearer in the Olympic Stadium in Rome
Quelle: pa / dpa / hrad
Johnson was the head and face of the US team, at the opening he led the Americans into the stadium as the standard bearer, including sprint queen Wilma Rudolph and a young bungee named Cassius Clay, who was to become the greatest in the sport as Muhammad Ali.
Johnson becomes the king of athletes in Rome
At dusk, this memorable decathlon duel between Johnson and Taiwanese Chuan-Kwang Yang took place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The two were not only bitter rivals, but also best friends as training partners at UCLA University in Los Angeles – and Johnson won gold in a dramatic finish in the final 1,500 meter run. He was the king of athletes.
An American sports hero, who is also equipped with the priceless advantages of a model athlete, automatically ends up as a screen hero in Hollywood. Johnson started a second career in the dream factory after his triumph. He appeared on the side of cinema kings like Roger Moore and Elvis Presley, convinced among others in “Song of the Rebel” or in the James Bond thriller “License to Kill”, spiced up the film “Beyond the Ruwenzori” and flanked Frank Sinatra in “The reward of the brave”.
Johnson played Joe Jackson in the 1970 war film “The Last Grenade”
Quelle: pa/Everett Colle/Courtesy Everett Collection
On the other hand, he would have gladly spared himself the perilous courage that was required of him on his most terrible day in real life. Johnson turned to politics. Wanting to capitalize on his popularity as a sports hero, he joined the Kennedy Brothers to serve the Black American cause. First, he supported John F. Kennedy in his Peace Corps, a peace initiative – and after the fatal assassination attempt on the US President, he accompanied his younger brother Robert, who also made his way to the White House.
There is also a film about it. But in that case it’s a shocking documentary, and the role Rafer Johnson plays in it has nothing to do with the glittering dream factory Hollywood – it’s deadly reality. The film was shot on June 5, 1968. You can see Robert F. Kennedy leaving the ballroom after giving a speech at the “Ambassador Hotel” in Los Angeles. He’s just won the California Democratic primary, and his final words to his cheering supporters are, “Thank you all, let’s go to Chicago, let’s win there too!” Kennedy then heads through the hotel laundry On the way to the press conference – the Palestinian assassin Sirhan Sirhan appears out of nowhere and shoots him in the head.
Robert F. Kennedy is lying on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel, seriously injured by the bullets. He died later from his injuries
What: pa / Ron_Bennett / U
Then the events roll over. Journalist George Plimpton and football star Rosey Grier, who is also part of Kennedy’s campaign team, attack the attacker. The next moment, a muscular giant with a steely athlete’s body throws himself at the assassin, who shoots wildly and hits five other people – and in a tape recording, which is one of the most famous live reports in radio history, one hears the horror reporter Andrew West from the local station KRKD yelling into his microphone, “I’m standing right here and Rafer Johnson is fighting the man!” The man still has the gun. Take care of the gun, Rafer! We don’t want a second Oswald! “
„Get the gun! Get the gun! Get the gun!“
Oswald, that was the murderer of John F. Kennedy five years earlier. And the radio reporter desperately cheers on the bodyguard Johnson: “Hold him tight, Rafer! Holds him tight! Grab his thumb! Break his thumb! Get the gun, Rafer! Get the gun! Get the gun! ”Tear the gun away from him, Rafer!
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was convicted of murder on June 5, 1968. Since then he has served a life sentence in California
Source: pa dpa / dpa
Rafer Johnson risks his life in these moments. The scuffle lasts for a minute, then the Olympic champion has finally overpowered the murderer, he hands the weapon over to the police and says from then on: “That was the worst day of my life.”
Rafer Johnson is dead, but he left us mere mortals, which is courage. And what Will Rogers, the unforgettable icon among US entertainers, roughly meant when he once said: “We can’t all be heroes because someone has to stand on the curb and clap when they pass.” Let’s clap Rafer Johnson to say goodbye again.
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