On August 30, 1963, the rookie Johnson, a 200-meter track finalist in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and former world record holder, suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a preseason game against the Houston Oilers in Wichita, Kansas during a kickoff return. He died 10 days later, on September 8, at the age of 23.[1] Although he was only on the team's active roster during preseason, his jersey number 33 was retired.[2][3]
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