William Smith (wrestler)

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William Thomas "Bill" Smith (born September 17, 1928 in Portland , Oregon , † March 20, 2018 ) was an American wrestler . He was Olympic champion in Helsinki in 1952 in free style welterweight.

Career

Bill Smith graduated from the University of Northern Iowa . He worked there as a freestyle wrestler and was trained by Dave McCuskey. In 1949 and 1950 he won the NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (= US student championship) in the free style of welterweight, which at that time was very important because the best US freestyle wrestlers took part. He was able to repeat this success in 1950.

From 1949 to 1950, Bill Smith also won the American Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union in free style in light and welterweight. He could not qualify for the Pan American Games, which were held for the first time in 1951, and no US wrestlers competed at the World Championships in Freestyle Wrestling, which were also held for the first time in 1951. For this he defeated Melvin Northrup in the US elimination for the Olympic Games in 1952 and therefore represented the United States in Helsinki .

In Helsinki, Bill Smith started without any international experience and was still able to prevail in the welterweight division in a very exciting final. He, the Swede Per Berlin and the Iranian Abdollah Mojtabavi fought the final battles and defeated each other. Bill Smith won against Mojtabavi and lost to Per Berlin. At the end of the fights Bill Smith had 6 missing points, Per Berlin 7 missing points and Abdullah Mojtabavi 8 missing points, with which they also won the medals in that order.

This Olympic tournament remained the only international championships in which Bill Smith participated. After Helsinki he started a coaching career and was u. a. at the High School of rock Iceland , Illinois , the University of Nebraska , the University of California , the Olympic Club of San Francisco and the Clayton Valley High School in Concord ( California operates). He was also the coach of the US national wrestling team from 1962 to 1967 and coach of the Canadian freestyle wrestling team in 1968. In 1978 he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his services to wrestling .

successes

international

national

  • 1949, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, Le,
  • 1949, 1st place, NCAA-Champ., F, We, ahead of Melbourne Flesner, Gilbert Gaumer u. Charles Lyons,
  • 1950, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, We,
  • 1950, 1st place, NCAA Champ., F, We, ahead of Ken Hunte, Byron Todd u. Bob Mason,
  • 1951, 1st place, AAU-Champ., F, We

swell

  • Athletics magazine, special Olympic issue 1952
  • Documentation of International Championships of FILA , 1976, pages 0-47
  • United States University Sports Association website - statistics section
  • AAU website - statistics section

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Olympic champion, TJ grad Bill Smith dies at 89. In: nonpareilonline.com. March 21, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018 .