William Henry Nieder (August 10, 1933 – October 7, 2022) was an American athlete who mainly competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. Nieder was born in

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) on Long Island, in New York, United States. The town's combined population was 793,409 at the 2020 census. It occupies the s ...

, and grew up in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

.Bill Nieder
sports-reference.com Bill competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. He was married to his wife Sue at the time and had a daughter Connie of about one year of age. At those Games he won a silver medal, losing to

Parry O'Brien William Patrick "Parry" O'Brien (January 28, 1932 – April 21, 2007) was an American shot put champion. He competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals (1952, 1956) and one silver medal ( 1960). In his last Olympic ...

. Four years later, he placed fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and was selected to the national team only after Dave Davis withdrew due to an injury. At the Olympics Nieder won a gold medal with a throw of 19.68 m. The mark set a new

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

and was an improvement of 5 feet from his mark 4 years earlier. Parry O'Brien had also improved over that time but was almost 2 feet behind Nieder. A graduate of the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, Nieder was the first collegiate athlete to better the 60-foot mark with a 16-pound shot. He was also the first high school prep athlete to break the 60-foot barrier with a 12-pound shot put. Nieder, who set the shot put world record on three occasions, tried boxing when his track and field career ended following the 1960 Olympics. He was knocked out in his first bout and hung up the gloves for good. Nieder was employed by 3M as a salesman, and as an Olympic medal holder with a persuasive knack for presenting things in the most favorable light, Nieder helped sell the first ever synthetic track surface for an Olympic Games to the

1968 Mexico City Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

organizers. Such tracks are now standard at all major track meets. Using proprietary formulas from 3M, Nieder later developed a new version of the rubber room that helped stomp out his competition who were unable to create a formula that satisfied fire safety standards. In 2006 Nieder was inducted into

National Track and Field Hall of Fame National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

.USATF Profile
Usatf.org. Retrieved on October 18, 2017. Nieder helped subdue a passenger attempting to enter the cockpit of

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

flight 1561 headed to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

on Sunday, May 8, 2011. He was 77 years old at the time and surrounding passengers who witnessed the altercation said Nieder arose from his seat to go to the bathroom, when he unknowingly bumped into the passenger intending to enter cockpit, allowing American Airline attendants to prevent the passenger from ultimately entering the cockpit. On October 11, 2022, it was announced by the University of Kansas that Nieder had died in the previous week at the age of 89.Former Kansas Legend Bill Nieder Passes Away
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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nieder, Bill 1933 births 2022 deaths American male shot putters Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Kansas World record setters in athletics (track and field) Kansas Jayhawks men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Lawrence, Kansas NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen