Tennessee’s Skinner Set Javelin MR In 1970

The story behind the 1970 NCAA javelin title and meet record captured by Bill Skinner of Tennessee is more unique than most. 

At the NCAA meet the previous year, in the qualifying round, he hurled the implement 273 feet, 3 inches, a mark superior to the meet record*. It was his only throw of the season, to date.

Going into the final, the big throw exhibited in qualifying made him the favorite; however, during a practice session he “ruined” his spear on an errant throw that plowed into … a shed. 

He said, “I had to use a different javelin (in the finals), and I lost all of my confidence.” 

It all adds to the lore of the 6-foot-6-inch tall Skinner, who won the title the next year, outright, with a valid meet-record throw of 270 feet, 8 inches (82.49m). 

He was an unlikely champion. As he told the Des Moines Register afterwards, “I was a welder and a sheet metal worker: I still do it whenever I can.”

Skinner quit high school at the age of 17 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He started throwing, at the age of 23, when a friend challenged him to a match. He didn’t enroll in college until he was 28, and by the time he won the NCAA crown, he was 31. 

Skinner was unable to defend his title as the following year he was kicked off the Tennessee team for … having a mustache. The whole-ordeal was famously covered by Sports Illustrated.

* The note here is that meet records, at the time, could not be set in non-final rounds. Also, the javelin implement changed in 1986 and any marks prior has been moved to the “legacy” section of the record books.