Moscow's Hero

He had just whipped Soviet Decathlon Hero Vasily Kuznetsov, but the husky U.S. Negro got a brotherly buss from the loser and a tremendous roar of approval from the 30,000 fans, as he mounted the winner's platform in Moscow's Lenin Stadium and smilingly held a bouquet of flowers aloft in triumph. Rafer Lewis Johnson, 22, of Kingsburg, Calif, had treated appreciative Muscovites to one of the greatest individual performances in track and field history. He had amassed a world-record 8,302 points in the rugged decathlon*--:considered by many the toughest test of human endurance ever devised in sport. Russian men and women edged the U.S. 172-170 in their dual meet last week, and Soviet papers duly hailed the feat, but Rafe Johnson was the big hero. Said Moscow's Trud of his performance : "It will dignify the history of world athletic records for a long time to come."

"I'm Gonna Win." To beat the muscular Kuznetsov, Rafe Johnson had to better his best, since only ten weeks ago Kuznetsov had scored 8,013--28 points better than Johnson's own world-record 7,985. The Russians shortened the interval between events from half an hour to 20 minutes, but it bothered Rafe not a bit. "I like the interval even shorter," he said, "only about five or ten minutes to catch my breath." With the event half over,

Rafe was grimly confident that he could hold the slim lead he had built, despite the fact that on past performance Kuznetsov was favored in three of the final five events. "I'm gonna win," Rafe insisted. "I got to."

Johnson increased his margin with a second in the hurdles, as Kuznetsov finished third. He won the discus, lost some ground when Kuznetsov edged him for second in the pole vault. Then Rafe uncorked a prodigious heave of 238 ft. 1 7/8 in. for an easy triumph in the javelin, to sew it up. His winning margin was better than 400 points.

Back home in Kingsburg (pop. 23,000), Rafe's parents smiled happily when the local radio station interrupted a music program to announce his victory. But none of the town's inhabitants were very surprised. To the home-town folks, Johnson is a Samson, Paul Bunyan and Frank Merriwell rolled into one. His smoothly muscled build (6 ft. 3 in., 200 Ibs.) casts him in the mold of Jim Thorpe and Bob Mathias, great Olympic decathlon champions of the past. In high school he captained the track, basketball and football teams, is still remembered as a good infielder on the baseball sandlots and a powerful hitter.

Good As Any. But Rafe did not take the decathlon seriously until 1952, when he went to nearby Tulare, Calif, to see Mathias win the Olympic decathlon trials, decided he was as good as or better than most of the contestants.

Entering U.C.L.A. in 1954, Johnson worked hard for Track Coach "Ducky" Drake, and improved quickly. "Johnson picks up things faster and better than most athletes," says Drake. "You tell him what to do and he can do it immediately." Rafe made the Olympic team in 1956, managed to finish second to Indiana's

Milt Campbell in the decathlon, despite an injured left knee that still bothers him in the pole vault and broad jump. Since the Olympics, no one has beaten him in the decathlon. Now that his track eligibility has run out at U.C.L.A., Rafe plans to go out for basketball. Popular on the campus and widely respected, he is head of the U.C.L.A. student body, maintains a near-honors average in his studies, intends to take postgraduate training to get a degree in dentistry. Ahead on his track schedule: the Pan American Games in 1959, the Olympics and a rematch with Kuznetsov in 1960.

-Consisting of ten events: loo-meter dash, broad jump, shotput, 400-meter run, high jump, no-meter high hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, i,soo-meter run. It is scored by awarding points on the basis of 1,000 points for equaling a specified "par" figure for each event. Performances greater or lesser than par are graded proportionately higher or lower than 1,000. Par figures are set and revised periodically by the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

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