Portrait of Bill Toomey

Birthday profile

Bill Toomey

American decathlete

Born
January 10, 1939
Age in 2026
87
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1939

About Bill Toomey

William Anthony Toomey (born January 10, 1939) is an American former track and field competitor and was the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion. == Athletic and broadcast career == Toomey was an All-American for the Colorado Buffaloes track and field team, finishing 7th in the 400 meters hurdles at the 1961 NCAA track and field championships. He won 23 of the 38 decathlons he competed in, scoring over 8,000 points a dozen times. He was on the cover of the October 1969 issue of Track and Field News.. His 400m time of 45.68 set during the 1968 Olympics was the decathlon world best until 2015 when it was surpassed by Ashton Eaton's 45.00. Toomey was head coach in track and field at the University of California at Irvine in the early 1970s. Before that he worked as a television broadcaster and marketing consultant. Toomey also competed in Masters Track and Field. He married British 1964 Olympic long jump champion Mary Rand. == References == == External links == Media related to Bill Toomey at Wikimedia Commons Bill Toomey.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Bill Toomey was born

Bill Toomey was born in 1939. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1939

  • #1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
  • Top movieGone with the Wind
  • Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
  • Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
  • Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
  • Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
  • Notable inventionNylon stockings
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Bill Toomey's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19392026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,200$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population130.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.