Cornelius Cooper "Corny" Johnson (August 28, 1913 – February 15, 1946) was an American athlete in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

. Born in Los Angeles in 1913, Johnson first competed in organized

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

events at Berendo Junior High School. He achieved greater athletic success as a student at

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. Los Angeles High School is a pub ...

, competing in the sprint and in the

. Before going to the Olympics as a junior, he won the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a dir ...

in 1932. He had been second the year before. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Johnson, was documented in the film ''

Olympic Pride, American Prejudice ''Olympic Pride, American Prejudice'' is a 2016 American documentary film written and directed by Deborah Riley Draper. Dr. Amy Tiemann, Michael A. Draper, and Blair Underwood (who also narrated the film) were executive producers. The film premier ...

''.

Track and field

At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, Johnson, who was then an 18-year-old high school student, placed fourth in the high jump under the existing tiebreaker rules. Had the current rules been in force, he would have won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...

. He won the high jump at the State Meet in 1932 and 1933. During 1934-? Johnson attended

Compton College Compton College is a public community college in Compton, California. From 2006, when it lost its regional accreditation, to 2017, when it regained that accreditation, it operated as a part of El Camino College. Before and after the partnership ...

and with coach Herschel Smith continued his high jump career. His technique was described as a panther-like western roll. At the 1936 U.S. Olympic Trials, Johnson set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

at . After the bar was remeasured and everybody celebrated, Dave Albritton equalled Johnson's record. In

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

Johnson was one of 19

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s at the Berlin Olympics, where he won the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

. Johnson's winning height of 2.03m was an Olympic record and he tried unsuccessfully for the

. Johnson was the co-holder of the outdoor world record for the high jump for the year

- 37 and won eight career U.S. titles (five outdoor, three indoor). After retiring from the high jump, he became a letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office in Los Angeles, and in 1945 he joined the U.S. Merchant Marine. Johnson is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...

fraternity. In 1946, while working as a ship's baker on board the Grace Line's "Santa Cruz," Johnson developed bronchopneumonia. En route from the ship to a California hospital, Corny Johnson died, aged 32. Cornelius Johnson was inducted into the USA Track and Field

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

in 1994, and the California Community Colleges Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1998.

Championships

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Cornelius 1913 births 1946 deaths American male high jumpers African-American male track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics American sailors World record setters in athletics (track and field) Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Deaths from pneumonia in California Deaths from bronchopneumonia 20th-century African-American sportspeople