Rafer Johnson, an excellent Olympic and American hero, has reportedly passed away at the age of 86.
According to TMZ, Johnson passed away on Wednesday (December 2) at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He was surrounded by his family.
Johnson was a very accomplished athlete, actor, philanthropist, and even hero. In 1968, he was one of the men who attacked and subjugated Sirhan Sirhan seconds after his murder by Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
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As an athlete, he won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. He won silver in the same event four years earlier at the 1956 Olympics.
Johnson was such a talented athlete that the L.A. Rams picked him in the 1959 NFL Draft despite never having played a bit of college football.
After his career as an athlete, Johnson became an actor and appeared in such films as Wild in the Country with Elvis Presley, Pirates of Tortuga, and the 1989 James Bond film, A License to Kill.
Johnson married his wife Betsy in 1971 and they had two children together, daughter Jennifer Ann Johnson and son Joshua Ray Johnson.
