William Porter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see William Porter (disambiguation).
Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Gold 1948 London 110 m hurdles

William Franklin "Bill" Porter II (March 24, 1926 - March 10, 2000) was an American athlete, winner of 110 metre hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Born in Essex Township, Michigan, William Porter attended at Western Michigan University.

Porter won his only AAU Championship title in 1948 in 110 m hurdles and thus qualified to the Olympic Games. Although the best American hurdler Harrison Dillard did not qualify to the Olympics, the three Americans Porter, Clyde Scott and Craig Dixon were headlong over the rest of the field in the Olympic final. From the start to finish they ran almost neck to neck, with the others some five yards behind. In the finish, Porter gained a clear win with Scott beating Dixon by inches for second place.

After his athletics career, Porter worked for the Northwestern Alumni Association Board and later opened a sales agency in California.

William Porter died in Irvine, California.

Olympic champions in men's 110 m hurdles
1896: Thomas Curtis | 1900: Alvin Kraenzlein | 1904: Frederick Schule | 1904: Robert Leavitt | 1908: Forrest Smithson | 1912: Frederick Kelly | 1920: Earl Thomson | 1924: Daniel Kinsey | 1928: Sydney Atkinson | 1932: George Saling | 1936: Forrest Towns | 1948: William Porter | 1952: Harrison Dillard | 1956: Lee Calhoun | 1960: Lee Calhoun | 1964: Hayes Jones | 1968: Willie Davenport | 1972: Rod Milburn | 1976: Guy Drut | 1980: Thomas Munkelt | 1984: Roger Kingdom | 1988: Roger Kingdom | 1992: Mark McKoy | 1996: Allen Johnson | 2000: Anier García | 2004: Liu Xiang