Bill Skinner

Skinner in 1971
Personal information
Born	December 27, 1939[1] Wilmington, DE
Died	October 5, 2015 (aged 75)[2] Georgetown, KY
Height	6 ft6+1⁄2 in (199 cm)[2]
Weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Javelin throw
Achievements and titles
Personalbest	88.94 m (1970)[1]
Medal record Representingthe United States Pan American Games 1971 Cali Javelin throw

Bill Skinner (December 27, 1939 – October 5, 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]

Born in Wilmington and raised in New Castle, Delaware, Skinner was trained as a metalsmith and welder, as were his father and grandfather. In January 1957, aged 17, he quit high school and enlisted to theU.S. Navy; he completed his service in spring 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 theUniversity of Tennessee and graduated in industrial education. In 1971, his refusal to shave his mustache led to his removal from the University of Tennessee track team, an infamous incident covered bySports Illustrated. He continued his javelin career throwing for theNew York Athletic Club. 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 inKnoxville; as a result he missed the1972 Summer Olympics.^[2]

Skinner married in late 1962 and had a daughter. He divorced in 1970. The same year his younger brother, Jimmy, was killed in a car accident after returning from Vietnam.^[3] He remarried in 1971 and had two more daughters. After retiring from competitions, Skinner lived in Kentucky and worked forJohn Deere company. He was inducted into theDelaware Sports Hall of Fame in 1981,^[4] and into theDelaware Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1994. He was posthumously inducted into theTennessee Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016 as part of the first class honoring male athletes. His likeness appears (uncredited) on the side of the original arcade version of the KonamiTrack & Field video game. He died ofpancreatic cancer aged 75.^[2]

• American male javelin throwers
• 1939 births
• Living people
• Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States
• Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games
• NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
• Tennessee Volunteers men's track and field athletes
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2017