Benjamin Sinclair "Ben" Johnson CM (born December 30, 1961) is a former Canadian sprinter who enjoyed a high-profile career during most of the 1980s, winning two Olympic Bronze medals, and an Olympic Gold which was subsequently rescinded. He set consecutive 100 m world records at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and the 1988 Summer Olympics, but he was disqualified for doping, losing the Olympic title and both records.
Born in Falmouth, Jamaica, Johnson emigrated to Canada in 1976, residing in Scarborough, Ontario.
Johnson met coach Charlie Francis and joined the Scarborough Optimists track and field club, training at York University. Francis was a Canadian 100 metre sprint champion himself (1970, 1971 and 1973) and a member of the Canadian team for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Francis was also Canada's national sprint coach for nine years.
Johnson's first international success was when he won two silver medals at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia. He finished behind Allan Wells of Scotland in the 100 m with a time of 10.05 seconds and was a member of the Canadian 4x100 m relay team. This success was not repeated at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals, finishing 6th with a time of 10.44.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he reached the 100m final; after false starting in an attempt to rattle Carl Lewis, he won the bronze medal behind Lewis and Sam Graddy with a time of 10.22. He also won a bronze medal with the Canadian 4x100 m relay team of Johnson, Tony Sharpe, Desai Williams, and Sterling Hinds, who ran a time of 38.70. By the end of the 1984 season, Johnson had established himself as Canada's top sprinter, and on August 22 in Zurich, Switzerland, he bettered Williams' Canadian record of 10.17 by running 10.12.
In 1985, after seven consecutive losses, Johnson finally beat Carl Lewis. Other success against Lewis included the 1986 Goodwill Games, where Johnson beat Lewis, running 9.95 for first place, against Lewis' third-place time of 10.06. He broke Houston McTear's seven-year old world record in the 60 metres in 1986, with a time of 6.50 seconds . He also won Commonwealth gold at the 1986 games in Edinburgh, beating a young Linford Christie for the 100 m title with a time of 10.07. Johnson also led the Canadian 4x100 m relay team to gold, and won a bronze in the 200 m.
By the time of the 1987 World Championships, Johnson had won his four previous races with Lewis and had established himself as the best 100 m sprinter. At Rome, Johnson gained instant world fame and confirmed this status when he beat Lewis for the title, setting a new world record of 9.83 seconds as well, beating Calvin Smith's former record by a full tenth of a second.
After Rome, Johnson became a lucrative marketing celebrity. According to coach Charlie Francis, after breaking the world record, Johnson earned about $480,000 a month in endorsements. Johnson won both the Lou Marsh Trophy and Lionel Conacher Award, and was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year for 1987. On April 29, 1987, Ben Johnson was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. "World record holder for the indoor 60-meter run, this Ontarian has proved himself to be the world's fastest human being and has broken Canadian, Commonwealth and World Cup 100-meter records," it read. "Recipient of the Norton Crowe Award for Male Athlete of the Year for 1985, 'Big Ben' was the winner of the 1986 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete."
After Johnson defeated Lewis in Rome, Lewis started to explain away his defeat. He first claimed that Johnson had false-started, then he alluded to a stomach virus which had weakened him. Finally, without naming names, Lewis said "There are a lot of people coming out of nowhere. I don’t think they are doing it without drugs." This was the start of Lewis’ calling on the sport of track and field to be cleaned up in terms of the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs. While cynics noted that the problem had been in the sport for many years, they pointed out that it didn’t become a cause for Lewis until he was actually defeated, with some also pointing to Lewis's egotistical attitude and lack of humility. During a controversial interview with the BBC, Lewis said: Ambition, naivety and tantalising prospect of inheriting the world ::“That (100 metres) race will be looked at for many years, for more reasons than one.” Johnson's response was: This set up the rivalry leading into the 1988 Olympic Games.
Ben "Son" Johnson Jr. (June 13 1918 – April 8 1996) blank">Ben Johnson Jr., obituary, Osage County, Oklahoma USGenWeb Project hosted by Rootsweb.com was an _American motion picture actor, mainly in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.
Born in Foraker, Oklahoma, of Osage and Irish ancestry to Ben Sr. and Ollie Susan (Workmon) Johnson. Ben Johnson Sr. was a rancher in Osage County and also a rodeo champion. As a young man, Ben Johnson Jr. was a ranch hand, would travel with his father on the rodeo circuit, and become a star before becoming involved in the movies. He won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's Team Roping Championship for steer roping in 1953.
Johnson married Carol Elaine Jones, daughter of Western (genre) star Buck Jones in 1941, and was married for 53-years until her death on 27 March 1994. The couple had no children.
After doing some stunt work in the 1939 movie The Fighting Gringo, in the early 1940s he found work in Hollywood wrangling horses for a studio; he also started doing stunt work involving horses. His steady stunt work began on the controversial Howard Hughes film The Outlaw. Hughes cast Jane Russell in the lead and had numerous camera shots of her ample cleavage, getting the attention of the Hollywood censors. The film was shot in 1941 but took five years to get to selected theaters. During shooting, the horses pulling a wagon with three men in it stampeded. Johnson mounted a horse, caught the runaway wagon, and saved the men. Hughes rewarded him by promising him an acting job. Johnson made his first appearance in front of the camera in Naughty Nineties, an Abbott and Costello's movie made in 1945. He got a bigger role in the 1949 film Mighty Joe Young, as 'Gregg', opposite Terry Moore.
With his work as a stunt man he would catch the eye of director John Ford. Ford would hire Johnson for stunt work for the 1948 movie Fort Apache, and then the following year in the 3 Godfathers, then put him in front of the camera in several films, also starring three with John Wayne, including three in a row: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Wagon Master (1950; Johnson played the lead in this non-Wayne Ford western), and Rio Grande (1950).
Johnson played in supporting roles in the screen classics Shane (1953) starring Alan Ladd, and One Eyed Jacks (1961) starring Marlon Brando. In 1964 he worked with Ford again in Cheyenne Autumn. He also appeared in four Sam Peckinpah directed films: Major Dundee (1965, with Charlton Heston), The Wild Bunch (1969, with William Holden & Robert Ryan), and two back-to-back Steve McQueen movies, The Getaway and the rodeo film Junior Bonner (both 1972).
He teamed up John Wayne again, and director Andrew McLaglen, in two films; appearing with Rock Hudson in The Undefeated (1969), and in a fairly prominent role in Chisum (1970).
In between the four Peckinpah films Johnson would win an Academy Award for his performance as 'Sam The Lion' in the classic The Last Picture Show, the Larry McMurtry (novel & screenplay) story made into a film and directed by Peter Bogdanovich (also co-writer screenplay), that co-starred Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and in her film debut Cybill Shepherd.
Johnson continued to work almost steadily until his sudden death in 1996 at his home in Mesa, Arizona. He also continued ranching during the entire time. He was buried in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. In addition, he sponsored the Ben Johnson Pro Celebrity Team Roping and Penning competition, held in Oklahoma City, the proceeds of which are donated to both the Children's Medical Research Inc., and to the Children's Hospital of Oklahoma.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Ben Johnson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7083 Hollywood Blvd. In 1982, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Ben Johnson (20 May 1858 - 4 June 1950) was an American lawyer and politician; Democrat, United States House of Representatives from 4 March 1907 to 3 March 1927.
Born near Bardstown in Nelson County, Kentucky. His father was William Johnson, who was state senator and a lieutenant governor of Kentucky. His mother, Nancy, was a member of the committee that selected the design of the Confederate flag; they chose a design submitted by Nicola Marschall. After prep school he went to St. Mary’s College, in Marion County, Kentucky, and graduated in June 1878. He then transferred to the Louisville Law University and graduated in 1882. That same year he was admitted to the bar and he began practicing law in Bardstown.
He was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives in 1885 and again in 1887. Johnson served as Kentucky speaker of the house in 1887. On 10 July 1893 he was appointed as a collector of internal revenue for the fifth district of Kentucky by President Grover Cleveland, he served this post until 10 August 1897.
Johnson was elected in 1905 as a member of the Kentucky State senate and served until he resigned, 5 November 1906, upon his election the U.S. House of Representatives. He served as a Representative from Kentucky, as a Democrat, to 10 straight congresses, Sixtieth through Sixty-ninth. Johnson served as chairman for the Committee on District of Columbia (62d - 65th Congresses), and served as a delegate at large to the Democratic National Conventions in 1912 and 1920.
In 1926 he decided to return to Bardstown and practice law again, he refused to be a candidate for the nomination that year. The following March he returned home after 20-years in Washington D.C. Johnson died at the age of 92, in 1950, in Bardstown and is interred in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.
His House, the Ben Johnson House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ben Johnson (born April 5, 1981) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League .
Benjamin Joseph Johnson (born June 18, 1981 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets organization. Johnson was named the Memphis area High School Player of the Year in baseball at Germantown High School in 1999. He was also recruited to play football at Mississippi State University, but opted for baseball instead.
He was a 4th round draft pick in by the St. Louis Cardinals, and was traded the following year to the San Diego Padres, along with Heathcliff Slocumb for Carlos Hernandez and Nathan Tebbs.
He worked his way up to AAA in , where he was an All-Star outfielder and the San Diego Padres Minor League Player of the Year, hitting .312 with 25 home runs. He was brought up to the majors that year and received limited playing time with the Padres, hitting .213 in 75 at-bats, and .250 with 4 home runs in 120 at-bats in 2006.
He was not selected for San Diego's 2006 playoff roster, and after the season ended he was traded to the New York Mets with relief pitcher Jon Adkins in exchange for relievers Heath Bell and Royce Ring.
Since joining the Mets, Johnson has been shuttled up and down between New York and AAA New Orleans. During June, he received some playing time when all three Mets regular outfielders (Shawn Green, Carlos Beltran, and Moises Alou) were injured.
Johnson was not offered a new contract by the Mets and became a free agent on December 12, . However, the Mets brought Johnson back by signing him to a Minor League deal on February 14, , and invited him to spring training.
Benjamin Andrew Johnson (born 1 August 1973 in Naracoorte, South Australia) was an Australian first-class cricketer who played for the Southern Redbacks. A left handed middle order batsman and part time medium pace bowler, he played between 1994/95 and 2002/03
Johnson started his career well, scoring a half century on debut and then making 81 and 168 against WA in just fifth first-class match, aged 21. He went on to score 8 more hundreds for the Redbacks. In 2001-02 he became the first man since Bill Lawry to carry his bat in consecutive matches in Australia. He finished his 69 game career with 4038 runs at 34.81
Born in Oklahoma, Ben Johnson was a ranch hand and rodeo preformer when, in 1940, Howard Hughes (I) hired him to take a load of horses to California. He decided to stick around (the pay was good), and for some years was a stunt man, horse wrangler, and double for such stars as John Wayne (I), Gary Cooper (I) and James Stewart (I). His break came when John Ford (I) noticed him and gave him a part in an upcoming film, and eventually a star part in Wagon Master (1950). He left Hollywood in 1953 to return to rodeo, where he won a world roping championship, but at the end of the year he had barely cleared expenses. The movies paid better, and were less risky, so he returned to the west coast and a career that saw him in over 300 movies.
