Bill Skinner
| 230 px
Skinner in 1971
|
||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | December 27, 1939[1] | |||||||||
| Died | October 6, 2015 (aged 75)[2] | |||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 6.5 in (199 cm)[2] | |||||||||
| Weight | 240 lb (109 kg) | |||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||
| Event(s) | Javelin throw | |||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 88.94 m (1970)[1] | |||||||||
|
Medal record
|
||||||||||
Bill Skinner (December 27, 1939 – October 6, 2015) was an American javelin thrower. He held the national title in 1970 and 1971 and won a silver medal at the 1971 Pan American Games.[1]
Skinner was trained as metalsmith and welder, so as his father and grandfather. In January 1957, aged 17, he quit high school and enlisted to the U.S. Navy; he retired in the spring of 1961.[3] After that he played semi-professional football with the Wilmington Clippers and trained in boxing and weightlifting before changing to javelin throw. By March 1968 he quit his welding job to attend the University of Tennessee and graduated in industrial education. In 1971 he captained the U.S. team at the Pan American Games. Later that year he received an elbow injury and was stabbed while trying to stop a bar fight in Knoxville; as a result he missed the 1972 Summer Olympics.[2]
Skinner married in late 1962 and had a daughter, he divorced in 1970. The same year his younger brother was killed in a car accident after returning from Vietnam.[3] After retiring from competitions Skinner lived in Kentucky and worked for John Deere company. He was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and to the Delaware Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1994. He died of pancreatic cancer aged 75.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bill Alley. sports-reference.com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kevin Tresolini (October 6, 2015) Delaware Sports Hall-of-Famer Bill Skinner dies. Delaware Online
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gwilym S. Brown (June 14, 1971) IS A MUSTACHE JUST PEANUTS? Sports Illustrated
- Use mdy dates from September 2017
- Pages with broken file links
- American male javelin throwers
- 1939 births
- Living people
- Pan American Games competitors for the United States
- Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States
- Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games
