Education
Johnson attended Columbia University, majoring in Political science, and competing for the Columbia Lions track team
Johnson attended Columbia University, majoring in Political science, and competing for the Columbia Lions track team
Injury and the outbreak of the Second World War denied him the chance of competing in the Olympics. In later life he became one of the first African-American colonels in the United States Army. He was invited to take part at the 1932 United States Olympic Trials but initially declined the offer because of the cost of traveling
However, the local Plymouth townsfolk raised the funds to pay for his trip, calling it the "Ben Johnson Olympic Fund".
At the trials themselves he was eliminated in a heat of the 200 yards. However, injury curtailed his outdoor season.
In 1936, the Olympic year, he was injured in the Amateur Athletic Union Championships a week before the Olympic Trials. However, the time was not accepted and so he had to be content with being credited with a time of 6.1 s, simply equaling the world"s best time up to that point.
In the Amateur Athletic Union championships, he was also 6th in 1936, 2nd in 1937 and 5th in 1939.
As a result of such runs, in the 1938 season he was considered the world"s pre-eminent sprinter. His season was curtailed unfortunately by him suffering from a bout of measles. He joined the United States Army in 1942, eventually reaching the rank of Colonel - one of the first African-Americans to do southern
He left the army in 1968 and resumed his education, earning a master"s degree at Maryland University.
He then settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare as a bureau director, heading their affirmative action program Johnson died in December of 1992 leaving behind a Granddaughter Lauren Johnson.
Ben"s only child Norbert Carl Benjamin Johnson died earlier that same year.
In 2006, he was a member of the inaugural class of the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame. He was also elected a member of the inaugural class of the Wyoming Valley Sports Hall of Fame.