William D. Painter (2015) - Hall of Fame - University of Akron Athletics

William D. Painter

Induction:
2015
Class:
1968

1964-68
Long Distance Runner

When Bill Painter came to The University of Akron as a freshman in 1963 as a promising long distance runner, his timing was not the best. Cross country head coach Al Hall had put together what turned out to be the best team since the sport first started on the campus in 1935. Leading the veteran team, which had captured the school’s first Ohio Conference (OC) Championship in 1962, were senior Al Campbell and sophomores George Wetherbee and Chuck Young. All three are previous inductees into UA’s Hall of Fame.

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As one of 16 candidates trying to make the team, Painter found himself behind seasoned runners, seniors Jim Durbin and Doug Watts and juniors Bob Bell and Dan Singleton. That team went onto to repeat as OC champions, added an All-Ohio title, and had the sport’s all-time highest finish as runner-up to Kansas State in the NCAA College Division Championship. Needless to say, Painter just bided his time that first season, watched and learned what he needed to do to make his own mark. He became a most outstanding long distance runner who earned three letters each in cross country and track during the 1964-68 years.

The 1965 team was almost unbeatable. UA completed its first and only undefeated regular season in its history, 9-0

In cross country, he was usually UA’s number three man behind Hall of Famers George Wetherbee and Chuck Young during the 1964-65 seasons when the Zips captured back-to-back All-Ohio College Division Championships and the 1965 Ohio Conference title. Painter took ninth at the 1964 All-Ohio College Division Championships and 12th place at the Ohio Conference championship as the team finished the season at 9-1.

In 1965, the Zips went a perfect 9-0 as Painter finished fifth in the All-Ohio and OC. That 1965 team went on to finish 10th at NCAA College Division Championships.

After missing 1966 season to do an electrical engineering co-op program in Vermont, Painter surely came into his own his senior campaign. As UA was compiling an 8-1-1 record, Painter earned UA’s Most Valuable Runner by winning nine of his 10 races and setting course records at Goodyear Metropolitan Park in a time of 15:35 (UA’s home course record co-owned by Wetherbee and Young), and at Buffalo State, Muskingum, and Oberlin.

However, his crowning achievement was capturing the 1967 All-Ohio College Division individual title in record breaking time of 25:43 on the five-mile course. In doing so, Painter avenged his only loss in ‘67 by beating Hiram’s Chuck Sweeney to the wire. As a one-, two- and three-miler on the track team, he scored 20 points during the ’65 season when UA captured the OC Championship, scored 34 ¼ points as the Zips compiled a 9-2 record in ‘67 and 42 points during a 7-3 campaign in ’68.

After graduating from UA in December of 1968, Painter spent two years on active duty as an officer in the Army Signal Corps and then went onto earning both a MSEE degree and a MBA degree.