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William “Bill” Frederick Crothers, track and field athlete, pharmacist (born 24 December 1940 in Markham, ON). One of Canada’s best middle-distance runners, Bill Crothers won a silver medal in the men’s 800 m at the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo. He also won gold in the men’s 800 m at the 1965 Summer Universiade, silver in the men’s 4x400 yard relay at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and two silver medals at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. Crothers won the Lou Marsh Trophy (now the Northern Star Award) in 1963 as Canada’s athlete of the year and the Lionel Conacher Award in 1964 as Canada’s male athlete of the year. He has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Bill Crothers
During the 1960s, runner Bill Crothers was twice the world record-holder in the men’s 880 yards. He also won the silver medal in the men’s 800 m at the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.
(photo by Norman James, courtesy Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Early Life and Family
Bill Crothers was the son of Beina and Thomas Crothers. He was the oldest of three children, and had two younger brothers, Richard and David. Thomas was a construction superintendent, Richard became an Ontario Provincial Police constable, and David was also a middle-distance runner who later moved to Australia.
The fact that the young Bill Crothers became a high-performance middle-distance runner was a surprise to many. He entered high school less than five feet in height and weighing less than 90 lb. Crothers started long-distance running at age 15. He was taught by Fred Foot, who coached the East York Track Club. Crothers attended Agincourt High School in Scarborough and remembers the day he chose running over baseball. While in high school, Crothers won the 440 yard Ontario High School provincial championship in 1959 with a senior meet record of 50.4 seconds. He was also the 440 yard Canadian national junior champion.
University of Toronto
Bill Crothers studied pharmacy at the University of Toronto’s pharmacy college and graduated in 1963. He regularly competed in races ranging from 440 yards to 1500 m. Crothers won 10 gold medals in intercollegiate competitions and set records in the 440 yards and 880 yards. He twice won the Hec Phillips Trophy, presented to the best athlete at the Ontario University Athletic track and field championship meet. Crothers also won the 1963 George M. Biggs Trophy, presented to the “graduating undergraduate male student-athlete who has contributed most to university athletics from the standpoint of academics, athletics, leadership and community service.”
While studying at the University of Toronto, Crothers attended the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. He participated in the men’s 4x400 yard relay and helped Canada finish sixth.
Northern Star Award
In 1963, Crothers had an outstanding athletics season. He was ranked No. 1 in the world in the men’s 800 m and was the Canadian National Senior champion in both the men’s 880 yards and 440 yards for the third straight year. He also won the Canadian, American and British Indoor Championship and the American outdoor championship in the 880 yards. Crothers’s time of 1:46.8 was the fastest time ever ran at the United States National Championship and was the fastest time in the half mile recorded in 1963. Crothers’s time of 1:50.2 at the San Francisco Holiday Invitational set an American Indoor record. As a result, Crothers won the Lou Marsh Trophy (now the Northern Star Award) in 1963 as Canada’s athlete of the year. He was also ranked as the fastest 800 m runner in the world by Track and Field News.
1964 Olympic Summer Games
Bill Crothers contributed one of four medals that Team Canada won at the 1964 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, winning silver in the men’s 800 m. His time of 1:45.6 was a personal best and stood as the Canadian record for 29 years. Crothers’s silver medal was considered a minor surprise. He was not ranked in the top 10 in the men’s 800 m at the beginning of the Olympics. At the end of 1964, Crothers won the Lionel Conacher Award, presented to the Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year.
In Olympic history, Crothers is one of four Canadian runners to win an Olympic medal in the men’s 800 m. He is joined by Alex Wilson (silver in 1932), Phil Edwards (bronze in 1932 and 1936) and Marco Arop (silver in 2024).
Men’s 800 m podium at 1964 Olympic Summer Games
(L–R) Silver medallist Bill Crothers of Canada, gold medallist Peter Snell of New Zealand and bronze medallist Wilson Kiprugut of Kenya on the podium for the men’s 800 m at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Snell won in an Olympic record time of 1:45.1 seconds.
(photo by Keystone, courtesy Hulton Archive via Getty Images)
Other Athletic Achievements
Bill Crothers continued his international success in 1965. He won gold in the men’s 800 m at the 1965 World University Games in Budapest with a time of 1:47.7. Also in 1965, Crothers beat Snell in a special 880-yard race at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium.
A year later, Crothers won silver in the men’s 4x400 yards at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, alongside Don Domansky, Ross MacKenzie and Brian MacLaren. That was followed by silver medals in the men’s 800 m and men’s 4x400 m with MacKenzie, Brian and Robert MacLaren at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. At the national level, Crothers won four more consecutive Canadian national championships in the 880 yards from 1964 to 1967 and two more 440-yard titles in 1964 and 1965.
Post-Athletics Career
After his athletic career, Crothers worked as a pharmacist in Markham, Ontario. He remained active in sport and served as the president of the Markham Tennis Club in 1987. In 2008, the Bill Crothers Secondary School, a sports-focused high school, opened in the York region.
Bill Crothers in 1987
Twenty years after setting the Canadian record in the men’s 800 m, a record that still stood in 1987, Bill Crothers was running a pharmacy in Markham, Ontario.
(photo by Jim Russell, courtesy Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Honours
Bill Crothers has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1965), Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (1971), the University of Toronto Athletics Hall of Fame (1987), and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (1997).
