Bill Toomey

Bill Toomey

Bill Toomey in 1968
Personal information
Born	(1939-01-10) January 10, 1939 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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)
Medal record Representing the United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Decathlon Pan American Games 1967 Winnipeg Decathlon Universiade 1965 Budapest Decathlon

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

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

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.

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.

External links

• Bill Toomey. mtsac.edu
• http://www.bill-toomey.com/

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