Bill Toomey

Bill Toomey

Bill Toomey in 1968
Personal information
Born (1939-01-10) January 10, 1939
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 87 kg (192 lb)
Sport
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Decathlon
Club Southern California Striders
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 100 – 10.3 (1966); 200 – 21.2 (1966); 400 – 45.6 (1968); 1500 – 4:12.7 (1964); 110H – 14.2 (1969); 400H – 5.17 (1961); HJ – 6–6¾ (2.00) (1969); PV – 14–0¼ (4.27) (1969); LJ – 26–0¼ (7.93) (1969); SP – 47–2¼ (14.38) (1969); DT – 154–2 (46.99) 1969); JT – 225–8 (68.78) (1969); Dec – 8309 (1969)

William Anthony Toomey (born January 10, 1939) is a former American track and field competitor and the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion.[1]

Ten's my favorite number. Ten letters in my name. Born January 10, always wore number 10 as a ball player. It had to be the decathlon."
Bill Toomey[2]

A graduate of Worcester Academy and the University of Colorado, Toomey was named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in 1968. He set the world record in the decathlon in December 1969 and received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1969.

He won 23 of the 38 decathlons he competed in, scoring over 8,000 points a dozen times. He was on the cover of the October 1969 issue of Track and Field News.[3]

A week after his world record, Toomey married Olympic gold-medal winning British athlete Mary Rand in 1969 and they had two daughters, Samantha and Sarah. They divorced after 22 years of marriage.

Toomey was head coach in track and field at the University of California at Irvine in the early 1970s. Before that he worked as a television broadcaster and marketing consultant.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Bill Toomey. sports-reference
  2. David L. Porter (5 August 2013). Their Greatest Victory: 24 Athletes Who Overcame Disease, Disability and Injury. McFarland. pp. 171–. ISBN 978-1-4766-0247-9.
  3. Past Covers 1969. Trackandfieldnews.com. Retrieved on July 17, 2015.

External links

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Records
Preceded by
West Germany Kurt Bendlin
Men's decathlon world record holder
December 11, 1969 – September 8, 1972
Succeeded by
Soviet Union Mykola Avilov
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
United States Bob Beamon
Track & Field Athlete of the Year
1969
Succeeded by
United States Randy Matson
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