Rafer Johnson is an Olympic gold medal decathlete, originally from Kingsburg, California. 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, breaking that award's color barrier. At UCLA, Johnson also played basketball under legendary coach John Wooden and played for the NFL Los Angeles Rams as a running back. Rafer Johnson Junior High School in Kingsburg, California is named in his honor. He remains involved in Special Olympics, having been one of the founding members after Eunice Kennedy Shriver invited him to lead the movement in Southern California. He shares his extraordinary life experiences in his autobiography, The Best That I Can Be, published in 1999.