RAFER JOHNSON TO BE HONORED BY SUPERVISORS

 

 

NEWS FROM DON KNABE

Supervisor, Fourth District

County of Los Angeles

822 Hahn Hall of Administration

 

 

 

        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                           Contact:         David A. Sommers

                                                                                                                                        (213) 974-1095

                                                                                                                                        (213) 453-6446 (cell)

 

 

 

RAFER JOHNSON TO BE HONORED BY SUPERVISORS

 

Los Angeles, August 27, 2009 – Olympic Gold Medalist Rafer Johnson will be honored by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. Supervisor Don Knabe arranged the tribute to Johnson in recognition of his contributions as a humanitarian and as one of the founders of Special Olympics Southern California.

 

Johnson took the bronze medal in the Decathlon at 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and the gold medal in the Decathlon at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

 

Johnson was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958 and won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1960. In 1994, he was elected into the first class of the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was named one of ESPN's 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. In 2006, the NCAA named him one of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes of the past 100 years.

 

Tuesday’s presentation is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at the Hall of Administration.

 

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