William Jules ANDRE

Bill Andre fenced while a high school student, and this interest, combined with cross-country experience while at Dartmouth, led him to the modern pentathlon. Although he failed to make the 1952 Olympic team, he improved quickly making the first U.S. World Championship team in 1953. There he finished third individually, and might have finished second had his swimming been better. This was his top individual performance ever in international competition, but his seventh place at Melbourne in 1956 helped the U.S. to the silver medals. In 1955 he won silver with the team at the Pan American Games (with the non-Olympians Edgar A. O'Hair and Alan Wadsworth) and in 1956, Andre was second in the national championships. The leading fencer among the pentathletes, he also finished second in the 1956 AFLA épée individual competition and third in that event in 1958, and was a member of the winning three-weapon team that year as well. Andre later practiced law.