William Welles Hoyt (born May 7, 1875, in

Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is ...

; died December 1, 1954, in Cambridge, New York) was an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. He was born in

. Hoyt competed in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

, winning the event with a height of 3.30 metres. He also ran the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a rac ...

. He placed second in his heat, after Thomas Curtis, but did not run in the final. Hoyt received his secondary education at

The Roxbury Latin School The Roxbury Latin School (informally known as RL) is a private, College-preparatory school, college-preparatory, all-boys day school located in West Roxbury, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1645 by Puritans, Puritan missionary John Eli ...

. He graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

with a BA and MD. After sports retired, initially he practiced as a doctor in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and was later commissioned into the 1st Illinois Field Hospital Company and served in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

. After the war he tried to resume his

practice, but soon returned to France as a surgeon with the foreign service of the

U.S. Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant se ...

, and he served overseas for many years. He finally settled in the small town of

Berlin, New York Berlin is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,808 at the 2020 census.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census results. https:/ ...

, where he continued to practice medicine.

References

External links

* 1875 births 1954 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century American sportsmen Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field American male pole vaulters People from Glastonbury, Connecticut Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Roxbury Latin School alumni Harvard Crimson men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Hartford County, Connecticut Harvard Medical School alumni Track and field athletes from Connecticut {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub