Bill Schmidt

For the 19th century baseball player born with the name "Schmidt", see Billy Smith (right-handed pitcher).

Bill Schmidt

Personal information

Born

December 29, 1947 (age 68)

Medal record

Men's athletics
Representing United States
Olympic Games
	1972 Munich	Javelin throw

Bill Schmidt (born December 29, 1947) is a retired male American javelin thrower from the Pittsburgh suburb of Southview, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Helen and Louis Schmidt, and won the bronze medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

His dad was born in Germany and came to the United States at the age of 7. His dad was a coal miner for 29 years and marched with John L Lewis, the UMW organizer and President. Bill is the youngest of seven children, six boys and one girl. He has an identical twin named Bob Schmidt.

He attended Canon McMillan Senior High School in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and competed in football and track and field. He played linebacker and threw the javelin. His personal best in the javelin was 204'4". He played American Legion Baseball and made the Western Pennsylvania All Star Team. He also had a tryout with professional baseball. Bill graduated in June 1965.

In 1966 he was a walkon track and field athlete at North Texas State University (later named University of North Texas) in Denton, TX. He later earned a full scholarship, throwing the javelin. His sophomore year his best throw was 219'2", his junior year 253'1" and his senior year 280'7". He earned All American honors and placed second at the NCAA Championships in 1970 at Des Moines, IA. He was also named track captain his senior year. He graduated in August 1970 with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree with a major in Business and minors in Psychology and Personnel Management. He competed in the World University Games in Turin, Italy in September 1970.

On September 20, 1970 he was drafted into the United States Army. He did his Basic Training at Ft. Dix, NJ and his Advanced Infantry Training at Ft. Polk, LA. He was stationed at Ft. Ord, CA, Ft. MacArthur, CA and The United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. He competed in the CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) Games, the World Military Championships with competition in over 20 sports and 40 countries. He won the military championships, setting a new world military record in the javelin at Turku, Finland in August 1971.

He competed for the United States in the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany in the javelin throw where he won the bronze medal. He still remains the only American to medal in the javelin event in the last 56 years.

During the Munich Massacre by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics, Israeli racewalker Shaul Ladany awakened and alerted American track coach Bill Bowerman, who called for the U.S. Marines to come and protect American Jewish Olympians swimmer Mark Spitz and Schmidt.^[1]

He earned a post graduate scholarship and attended The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. There he earned a Master of Science (MS) degree in Business Education with a concentration in accounting in 1976. He taught in the Knoxville City Schools at Central High School in Knoxville, TN and coached boys and girls cross country and track. He won the USA National Championships in the javelin at UCLA in 1978 and was named "Javelin Thrower of the Decade" (the 1970s)in the United States by Track and Field News. His career best was 283'2".

In the sports marketing world he is considered a pioneer and a giant in the industry. He was named by the Sporting News as one of "The 100 most Powerful People in Sports" in 1996 and 1998.

His career positions include Director of Sports at the 1982 World's Fair Knoxville, TN 1982, Director of Development, Stokely Van Camp, Indianapolis, IN 1983, Vice President of Sports at the Los Angeles Olympics, Los Angeles, CA 1984, Vice President of Worldwide Sports Marketing at Gatorade, Chicago, IL 1984–1999, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Oakley Inc., Foothills Ranch, CA 1999 and presently President, Pegasus Sports Marketing, Knoxville, TN. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Exercise, Sport and Leisure Studies The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN.

In 2013 Schmidt was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.^[2]

He is an avid sports fan, motorcycle enthusiast and golfer.and Also has extended family in Canonsburgh and Washington. Wich he never sees .

References

↑ Prefontaine, Steve. "Leading Men". Runner's World (April 2006): 104.
↑ "Jeff Gordon tonight's speaker at the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame induction". Knoxville News Sentinel. July 10, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2013.

"Bill Schmidt". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.

US National Championship winners in men's javelin throw

1909–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1909: Ralph Rose 1910: Bruno Brodd 1911: Ollie Snedigar 1912: Harry Lott 1913: Bruno Brodd 1914–19: George Bronder 1920–21: Milton Angier 1922: Flint Hanner 1923: Harry Hoffman 1924: John Leyden 1925: Zeke Bonura 1926: John Kuck 1927: Charles Harlow 1928: Creth Hines 1929: Jess Mortensen 1930–31: James DeMers 1932: Malcolm Metcalf^Note 1933: Lee Bartlett 1934: Ralston LeGore 1935: Horace Odell 1936: John Mottram 1937: William Reitz 1938: Nick Vukmanic 1939–42: Boyd Brown 1943–44: Martin Biles 1945: Earl Marshall 1946: Garland Adair 1947–48: Steve Seymour 1949: Bud Held 1950: Steve Seymour 1951: Bud Held 1952: Bill Miller 1953–55: Bud Held 1956: Cy Young 1957: Bob Voiles 1958: Bud Held 1959–60: Al Cantello 1961: John Fromm 1962: Dan Studney 1963: Larry Stuart 1964: Frank Covelli 1965: Bill Floerke 1966: John Tushaus 1967: Delmon McNabb 1968: Frank Covelli 1969: Mark Murro 1970–71: Bill Skinner 1972: Fred Luke 1973: Cary Feldmann 1974: Sam Colson 1975: Richard George 1976: Fred Luke 1977: Bruce Kennedy 1978: Bill Schmidt 1979: Duncan Atwood

1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Duncan Atwood 1981: Bruce Kennedy 1982: Bob Roggy 1983: Rod Ewaliko 1984: Curt Ransford 1985–86: Tom Petranoff 1987: Duncan Atwood 1988: Dave Stephens 1989: Mike Barnett 1990: Vince Labosky 1991: Mike Barnett 1992: Tom Pukstys

1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993: Tom Pukstys 1994: Todd Riech 1995: Tom Pukstys 1996: Todd Riech 1997–99: Tom Pukstys 2000–07: Breaux Greer 2008: Bobby Smith 2009: Chris Hill 2010: Sean Furey 2011: Mike Hazle 2012: Sam Humphreys 2013: Riley Dolezal 2014–15: Sean Furey

Olympic Trials	The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.

Notes	Ken Churchill had the longest throw in the 1932 competition (which doubled as the Olympic Trials), ahead of Malcolm Metcalf. However, Churchill qualified for the final only due to a late rule change by the U.S. Olympic Committee, allowing eight rather than five finalists. As this rule change applied only to the Olympic Trials, Churchill is considered to have won at the Trials and Metcalf at the national championships, even though they were the same meet.

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