William John Alfred Rowe (May 27, 1913 – April 20, 1938) was an American

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er. He was United States champion in 1936 and placed fifth in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Athletic career

Rowe studied at

Rhode Island State College The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-gra ...

, where Fred Tootell, former Olympic hammer throw champion, served as track and field coach. Rhode Island alumni led America in the hammer and

weight throw Weight throw (or Weight for distance) is a traditional strength sport and throwing event derived from ancient Scottish Highland games. Unlike its other counterpart, the Weight over bar which involves a stationary pendulum like swing for height, ...

s in the mid-1930s; apart from Rowe, Tootell's star pupils included

Henry Dreyer Henry Francis Dreyer (February 2, 1911 – May 27, 1986) was an American athlete. He competed in the 1936 and 1948 Summer Olympics as a hammer thrower; his other strong event was the non-Olympic weight throw, in which he broke the world record seve ...

and Irving Folwartshny. At 5 ft 11 in (183 cm) and 175 lbs (79 kg), Rowe was small for a heavy thrower; his teammate, "Shorty" Folwartshny, was 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) tall and weighed 225 lbs (102 kg) as a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

. Rowe missed much of the 1935 season due to an injury, but his best mark that year, 173 ft 10 in (52.98 m), still placed him third among Americans behind Dreyer and Chester Cruikshank. In the 1936

IC4A IC4A Championships (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year. Association was established in 1875, the competition (started in 1876) served as the top level coll ...

championships Rowe only placed third behind Folwartshny and Anton Kishon, throwing 162 ft in (49.39 m); in addition, he placed fourth in his second event, the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

. At that year's

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

Rowe turned the tables and won the hammer title with a best mark of 175 ft 7 in (53.51 m), defeating both Folwartshny and defending champion Dreyer by more than eight feet. At the Olympic Trials, which were held separately later that summer, Rowe threw 171 ft in (52.36 m) and lost to Dreyer by two inches; he qualified for the Olympic team, together with Dreyer and Don Favor. In Berlin Rowe qualified for the Olympic final and placed fifth with a throw of 51.66 m (169 ft in); he was the best of the Americans. Rowe never won the IC4A hammer title, which in 1937 again went to Folwartshny; however, he did win that year's IC4A discus title with a throw of 148 ft in (45.28 m).

Death

Rowe died in New York Post-Graduate Hospital on April 20, 1938, having been hospitalized since the previous week "suffering from mysterious growths under both armpits".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, William 1913 births 1938 deaths American male hammer throwers American male discus throwers University of Rhode Island alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Male weight throwers 20th-century American sportsmen