Rafer Johnson

A distinguished American athlete and occasional actor with many other strings to his bow, Rafer Johnson was a UCLA basketball star who went on to become Pan American decathlon champion in 1955, a two time decathlon silver medallist at the Melbourne Olympics (despite injuries) and winner of gold four years later in Rome. In 1968, he joined the Special Olympics International Board of Directors as a co-founding member and the following year also co-founded the California Special Olympics, serving as board president from 1983 to 1992. He was briefly a member of the Peace Corps during the administration of John F. Kennedy. While sports anchor at KNBC in Los Angeles, he took time out to support his close friend Robert F. Kennedy during the latter's 1968 presidential campaign in the role of advisor and quasi bodyguard. Along with L.A. Rams football star Roosevelt Grier he famously tackled Kennedy's assassin Sirhan Sirhan and secured the murder weapon, a .22 caliber revolver. In 1984, Johnson