This black and white film from 1961 has a run time of 53 minutes and is quite rare. The executive producer was David L. Wolper (Wolper Productions) with Mel Stuart serving as producer and director. This film discusses events in the life of Rafer Johnson, world decathlon champion and captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team. It tells about his early childhood and the days of hardship and struggle, his years in school, his success as an athlete, his service in the Peace Corps, and his eventual recognition by the President of the United States. Johnson competed in his first decathlon in 1954 as a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1955 he won the gold medal at the Pan-American Games. Injuries prevented him from winning the 1956 Olympic decathlon in Melbourne, Australia, but he set a world record in 1958. In 1960, the closest decathlon in Olympic history, Johnson scored 8,392 points, winning by only 58 points over his nearest competitor. At that Olympiad Johnson became the first black to carry the U.S. flag in the Olympic procession. His most recent formal appearance was to light the torch signaling the opening of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Johnson was having health problems at the time and Bruce Jenner would have been his replacement (he was on the field after assisting with the Olympic Flag) had Johnson been unable to carry the torch.
