Brutus Kerr HAMILTON

As a student at the University of Missouri, Brutus Hamilton won both the 1920 AAU pentathlon and decathlon and at the Olympics placed sixth in the pentathlon and took the silver medal in the decathlon. In 1924 he competed in the Olympic pentathlon for a second time and placed seventh. He also excelled in football and basketball, and later became phys ed, English and history teacher. Hamilton’s greatest contribution to the sport was, however, as a coach. He was coach at Cal/Berkeley from 1932-65 and during that time his team won six NCAA championships and 14 NCAA individual titles. He was a greatly respected man and was assistant coach to the 1932 and 1936 Olympic teams and head coach for the 1952 team. In 1950 he was voted Missouri’s Greatest Amateur Athlete and in 1974 he was inducted into the US Athletics Hall of Fame.

Personal Best: Dec – 5936 (1920).