Rafer Johnson Signed Baseball Olympic Gold Medalist – COA JSA

Presented is an OAL (Brown) baseball autographed by Rafer Johnson.  He signed it on the side panel in a black ballpoint pen (“9”).

Rafer Johnson was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won gold in the 1955 Pan American Games. He was the USA team’s flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. After he retired from athletics, Johnson turned to acting, sportscasting, and public service and was instrumental in creating the California Special Olympics. 

Authentication: JSA Basic Cert & Sticker

This ball is from one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of autographed baseballs in the world. Altogether they were easily displayable in custom shelf form and alphabetically displayed nonetheless. The choice of medium was visually easy for the encyclopedic collector who put these together. It took several decades to amass these rare autographs of the most prominent entertainers, historical figures, and sports players.  It proved quite difficult to acquire autographs of non-ballplayers on such an odd object (a baseball) but diligence proved otherwise and that it’s possible. So, now with the collection complete and his shelves empty there’s only one thing left to do….bid on this item and start the challenge to see how far you can take it.