Robert Ide WILL

Bob Will attended the University of Washington and pulled the 2-oar for their four at the 1948 Olympics. Will was on the junior varsity eight at Washington in 1948. Coach Alvin Ulbrickson chose four oarsmen from that eight, and the coxswain, to form a coxed four for the 1948 Olympic trials. The group had never before rowed a four but won the Olympic trials and went on to win gold at the Olympics. This was the only time the US won the coxed four at the Olympics, which was dropped from the Olympic Program after the 1992 Olympics.

After high school, Bob Will served in the Army Air Corps and flew B-17s from 1943-45. He then enrolled at Washington. After college he began working as a banker, but in 1959 he bought a small Volkswagen dealership. He eventually turned this into a successful career in automobile sales, with University Volkswagen and Audi Seattle.