Johnny Hero was a clothed, tall figure produced by Rosko Industries for
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
as a boy's doll (the term
action figure
An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...
had only begun being used with
G.I. Joe
''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...
).
Johnny Hero was basically a sports figure that could be fitted with various team uniforms (sold separately). The toy was introduced for the 1965 holiday season. At some point Johnny Hero was repackaged as
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
Hero.
Johnny Hero could be found packaged in a similar long box as GI Joe with minimal graphics and text describing the figure. Johnny's outfit included a red long-sleeve jogging suit (the top had "Johnny Hero" and the number "
16" (sixteen) printed on the front); gold shorts, white socks and white tennis shoes. The body was made of heavy foam, with a plastic head and hands. His right hand projected a metal rod or prong to help hold sports balls and equipment. Several sports team uniforms were made available, including the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
and other
NFL or
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
teams. Uniforms included plastic helmets and were sewn/printed in team colors.
References
Doll brands
Action figures
1960s toys
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