Randy Williams

American athletics competitor, long jumper

Randy Williams

Williams in 1972

Personal information

Born

(1953-08-23) August 23, 1953 (age 70)
Fresno, California, U.S.

Height

1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)

Weight

69 kg (152 lb)

Sport

Athletics

Event(s)

Sprint, long jump, triple jump

Club

Tobias Striders

Achievements and titles

Personal best(s)

100 m – 10.19 (1977)
200 m – 21.15 (1983)
LJ – 8.34 m (1972)
TJ – 15.94 m (1971)

Medal record

Representing the United States

Olympic Games
	1972 Munich	Long jump
	1976 Montreal	Long jump

Randy Lavelle Williams (born August 23, 1953) is an American former track and field athlete.

Education

In high school, Williams attended Edison High School in Fresno, California. He then attended the University of Southern California.^[1]

Career

At the CIF California State Meet in 1969, Williams finished third behind future rival James McAlister, in 1970, he finished second behind future NFL star, Lynn Swann, and in 1971, he won the meet in what would have clearly been a meet record, had it not been wind aided.^[2]

Williams won the sprints at the 1987 Masters West Region Championship.^[3]

Olympics

Williams mainly competed in the long jump, in which he won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and a silver medal in 1976.^[4] His 1972 winning jump of 8.34 m (27–4½) set the world junior record that stood for almost 40 years until it was improved by 1 cm by Sergey Morgunov on June 20, 2012. At the time it was the longest standing record on the books.^[5] Williams qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created specifically for the athletes.^[6]

Hall of Fame

In 2009, Williams was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.^[7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Randy Williams.

^ USC OLYMPIANS: 1904–2004 Archived September 16, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, USC Trojans Athletic Department, Accessed August 13, 2008.
^ "California State Meet Results – 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
^ National Masters News, Sept 1987, page 31. [1] Retrieved Jun 7, 2022
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Randy Williams". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
^ "Morgunov leaps 8.35m World junior record* in Cheboksary". Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). iaaf.org. June 21, 2012
^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
^ "Randy Williams". usatf.org. USA Track & Field, Inc. Retrieved May 17, 2009.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Ron Coleman	Men's long jump best year performance 1972	Succeeded by James McAlister

Olympic champions in men's long jump

v t e US National Championship winners in men's long jump
1876–1878 New York Athletic Club	1876: Isaiah Frazier 1877: William Livingston 1878: William Willmer
1879–1888 NAAAA	1879: Frank Kilpatrick 1880–81: John Voorhees 1882: John Jenkins 1883–86: Malcolm Ford 1887: Alexander Jordan 1888^{Note 1}: Victor Schifferstein
1888–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1888^{Note 1}: William Halpin 1889: Malcolm Ford 1890: Al Copland 1891: Charles Reber 1892: Eugene Goff 1893: Charles Reber 1894: Eugene Goff 1895–97: Edward Bloss 1898: Myer Prinstein 1899: Alvin Kraenzlein 1900–01: Harry McDonald 1902: Myer Prinstein 1903: Percival Molson 1904: Myer Prinstein 1905: Hugo Friend 1906: Myer Prinstein 1907: Daniel Kelly 1908: Platt Adams 1909–10: Frank Irons 1911–12: Platt Adams 1913: Phil Stiles 1914: Platt Adams 1915–16: Harry Worthington 1917: Joseph Irish 1918: David Politzer 1919: Floyd Smart 1920^OT: Sol Butler 1921: Edward Gourdin 1922–27: DeHart Hubbard 1928^OT: Ed Hamm 1929: Edward Gordon 1930–31: Al Bates 1932^OT: Edward Gordon 1933–34: Jesse Owens 1935: Eulace Peacock 1936: Jesse Owens 1937: Kermit King 1938–39: William Lacefield 1940–42: Billy Brown 1943: William Christopher 1944: William Lund 1945: Herb Douglas 1946–47: Willie Steele 1948: Fred Johnson 1949: Gay Bryan 1950: Jim Holland 1951–53: George Brown 1954: John Bennett 1955: Greg Bell 1956–58: Ernie Shelby 1959: Greg Bell 1960: Henk Visser (NED) * Joel Wiley 1961–66: Ralph Boston 1967: Jerry Proctor 1968–69: Bob Beamon 1970: Bouncy Moore 1971–72: Arnie Robinson 1973: Randy Williams 1974: Bouncy Moore 1975–78: Arnie Robinson 1979: Larry Myricks
1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Larry Myricks 1981–83: Carl Lewis 1984: Mike McRae 1985: Mike Conley Sr. 1986–87: Carl Lewis 1988: Eric Metcalf 1989: Larry Myricks 1990: Mike Powell 1991: Carl Lewis 1992^OT: Mike Powell
1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993–96^OT: Mike Powell 1997: Joe Greene 1998: Roland McGhee 1999: Kevin Dilworth 2000^OT: Melvin Lister 2001–02: Savanté Stringfellow 2003–04^OT: Dwight Phillips 2005: Miguel Pate 2006: Brian Johnson 2007: Dwight Phillips 2008^OT: Trevell Quinley 2009–10: Dwight Phillips 2011–12^OT: Marquise Goodwin 2013: George Kitchens 2014: Jeff Henderson 2015: Marquis Dendy 2016: Jeff Henderson 2017: Jarrion Lawson 2018: Jeff Henderson 2019: Ja'Mari Ward 2021^{2020 OT}: JuVaughn Harrison
Notes	Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932, and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event. 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

v t e 1972 USA Olympic track and field team
Qualification	1972 United States Olympic trials (track and field)
Men's track and road athletes	Jon Anderson Jack Bacheler Larry Black Doug Brown Dick Bruggeman Larry Burton Wayne Collett Willie Davenport Tom Dooley Jeff Galloway Eddie Hart Steve Hayden Thomas Hill Leonard Hilton Goetz Klopfer Mike Manley Ralph Mann Vincent Matthews Rod Milburn Kenny Moore Steve Prefontaine Rey Robinson Jim Ryun Steve Savage Jim Seymour Frank Shorter Chuck Smith John Smith Ken Swenson Robert Taylor Gerald Tinker (r) William Weigle Bob Wheeler Rick Wohlhuter Dave Wottle George Young Larry Young
Men's field athletes	Jeff Bannister Jeff Bennett Preston Carrington John Craft Chris Dunn Al Feuerbach George Frenn Tom Gage Bruce Jenner Jan Johnson Ron Jourdan Fred Luke Brian Oldfield John Powell Arnie Robinson Bill Schmidt Al Schoterman Bob Seagren Jay Silvester Dave Smith Steve Smith Milt Sonsky Dwight Stones Tim Vollmer Art Walker Randy Williams George Woods
Women's track athletes	Iris Davis Debra Edwards Mable Fergerson Barbara Ferrell Pam Greene Kathy Hammond Patty Johnson Wendy Koenig Francie Kraker Francie Larrieu Madeline Manning Mildrette Netter (r) Lacey O'Neal Mamie Rallins Mattiline Render Jackie Thompson Cheryl Toussaint Martha Watson
Women's field athletes	Kim Attlesey Roberta Brown Sherry Calvert Olga Connolly Gale Fitzgerald Jane Frederick Cindy Gilbert Sandi Goldsberry Kate Schmidt Maren Seidler Jan Svendsen Martha Watson Deanne Wilson Willye White
Coaches	Bill Bowerman (men's head coach) Ted Haydon (men's assistant coach) Hoover Wright (men's assistant coach) Stan Wright (men's assistant coach) Nell Jackson (women's head coach) Randall Lambert (women's assistant coach) Ron Sorkness (women's assistant coach)

v t e 1976 USA Olympic track and field team
Qualification	1976 United States Olympic trials (track and field)
Men's track and road athletes	Garry Bjorklund Benny Brown (r) Doug Brown Dick Buerkle Matt Centrowitz Willie Davenport Mike Durkin Mark Enyeart Dwayne Evans Charles Foster Herman Frazier Paul Geis Harvey Glance Millard Hampton Johnny "Lam" Jones Don Kardong Ron Laird Mark Lutz Duncan MacDonald Henry Marsh Ed Mendoza Edwin Moses Fred Newhouse James Owens Maxie Parks Steve Riddick James Robinson Mike Roche Bill Rodgers Todd Scully Mike Shine Frank Shorter Craig Virgin Larry Walker Quentin Wheeler Rick Wohlhuter
Men's field athletes	James Barrineau Earl Bell James Butts Sam Colson Fred Dixon Rayfield Dupree Al Feuerbach Richard George Anthony Hall Larry Hart Tommy Haynes Bill Jankunis Bruce Jenner Larry Myricks Terry Porter John Powell Dave Roberts Arnie Robinson Fred Samara Pete Shmock Jay Silvester Dwight Stones Mac Wilkins Randy Williams George Woods
Women's track athletes	Debra Armstrong Evelyn Ashford Rhonda Brady Rosalyn Bryant Chandra Cheeseborough Pat Donnelly Sheila Ingram Madeline Manning Jackson Pam Jiles (r) Wendy Knudson Francie Larrieu Jan Merrill Brenda Morehead Deby LaPlante Cyndy Poor Debra Sapenter Martha Watson (r) Kathy Weston
Women's field athletes	Sherry Calvert Gale Fitzgerald Jane Frederick Paula Girven Joni Huntley Marilyn King Kathy McMillan Kate Schmidt Maren Seidler Karin Smith Pam Spencer Sherron Walker Martha Watson Lynne Winbigler
Coaches	LeRoy Walker (men's head coach) Sam Bell (men's assistant coach) Lee Calhoun (men's assistant coach) Jimmy Carnes (men's assistant coach) Stan Huntsman (men's assistant coach) Berny Wagner (men's assistant coach) Alex Ferenczy (women's head coach) C. Harmon Brown (women's assistant coach) Jack Griffin (women's assistant coach) Brooks Johnson (women's assistant coach)