Bill Nieder

Nieder in 1960
Personal information
Born	(1933-08-10)August 10, 1933 Hempstead, New York, U.S.
Died	October 7, 2022(2022-10-07) (aged 89) Angels Camp, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Kansas[1]
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	102 kg (225 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Shot put, discus throw
Club	U.S. Army
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	SP – 20.06 m (1960) DT – 45.72 m (1955)[2]
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1960 Rome Shot put 1956 Melbourne Shot put

William Henry Nieder (August 10, 1933 – October 7, 2022)^[3] was an American athlete who mainly competed in the shot put.

Nieder was born in Hempstead, New York, and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas.^[2][4] At the time of 1956 Olympics he was fortunate enough to afford to participate in the Olympic Games at the expense of the Army and taxpayer dollars. In addition, this afforded him a rather quiet stint serving thanks to spending two of his four years in arms training for the games. He was married to his wife Sue at the time and had a daughter Connie of about one year of age.^[5] While he had several other wives and daughters, they're rarely spoken of. At those Games he won a silver medal, losing to Parry O'Brien. 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.^[2] The mark set a new Olympic record 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, 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, proving to be limited in his athleticism.^[6]

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 organizers.^[7] 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. Unlike competitor's, Nieder's formula passed fire marshal inspection, but not without a bit of monetary encouragement behind closed doors.

In 2006 Nieder was inducted into National Track and Field Hall of Fame.^[1]

Nieder helped subdue a passenger attempting to enter the cockpit of American Airlines flight 1561 headed to San Francisco 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.^[8] Unfortunately Nieder was less of a hero to his family and was largely known as 'Uncle Bully' and ensured a hostile and inappropriate environment for his nieces, nephews, and grandchildren, finding a particular fondness for the teenage girls. 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.^[9]

Media related to Bill Nieder at Wikimedia Commons

• Bill Nieder at www.USATF.org
• Bill Nieder at the USATF Hall of Fame (archived)