RAFER JOHNSON GOING EXTRA MILE TO HELP KIDS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Six mornings a week, he gets up at 5:30a.m., puts on his sweats, and drives over the hill from his Sherman Oaks home to the track at his alma mater, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . Rafer Johnson Rafer Lewis Johnson (born August 18, 1935) is a former American decathlete. Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas, but moved to Kingsburg, California at age 9. In high school, he played on the school's football, baseball and basketball teams. is 72 now, but one would never know it. Age hasn't laid a glove on him. He spends an hour running and doing wind sprints with young college students whose parents weren't even born when he won the silver medal in the 1956 Olympic Games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. and the gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize in the 1960 Games -- competing in the grueling 10-event decathlon decathlon (dĭkăth`lŏn), in modern Olympic games, a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. . At 190 pounds, he's 15pounds less than his Olympic Games weight. He still more than holds his own out there. Most days, Rafer drives home after his workout for a light breakfast before starting his day as chairman of the board of governors for the Special Olympics Special Olympics International sports program for people with intellectual disability. It provides year-round training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type summer and winter sports for participants. of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . But not Tuesday. Rafer had a side trip to make first -- and an important job to do. Inspire and motivate about 200 students at Ranchito Avenue Elementary School elementary school: see school. in Panorama City to get into better shape. Give them a pep talk and some advice that one of his old teachers gave him a long time ago when he was a kid with big dreams just like them. "Be the best that you can be," the Olympian told the fourth- and fifth- grade classes at the school. "No one can ask more." This was the first of five visits he'll make to the school in the next few months as part of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified's Fitnessgram program. It's funded in large part by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, which is promoting Los Angeles as a site for the 2016 Summer Games. "We jumped at the chance when we were asked if we'd be interested in having an Olympian work with our fourth- and fifth-grade students who traditionally have not done well in physical-fitness testing," Ranchito Avenue Principal Patricia Pelletier said. Who better than a legend still living his own words -- still being the best he can be more than 50 years after standing on an Olympic Games victory stand. "This is an important job, helping these kids -- not only athletically, but also to be good students," Johnson said, as the students gathered around him. "Were you ever nervous in the Olympics?" one little boy wanted to know because he always got nervous playing sports. "Oh, yeah, I was nervous," Johnson said, laughing. "If you don't get nervous, you might not be ready to do the best job you can do. It's good to be a little nervous." Coral Bowman, 9, brought one of Johnson's U.S. Olympic cards her grandfather had at home. The kids thanked him for coming and promised they weren't going to let him down -- that they would listen to their P.E. coaches and run that extra mile, do those extra sit-ups and pull-ups. Johnson smiled and said he would see them again in a few weeks, just to check. "Just do the best job you can do. No one can ask more." dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3749 CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Fourth-grader Coral Bowman, 9, gets an autograph on her Olympic sports card (given to her by her grandfather) of former Olympics decathlon gold medalist and Sherman Oaks resident Rafer Johnson. (2) Rafer Johnson signs a sports card of himself after speaking to students at Ranchito Avenue Elementary in Panorama City. John Lazar/Staff Photographer |
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