William Hoyt (athlete)

William Hoyt ( William Welles "Bill" Hoyt, born May 7, 1875 in Glastonbury (Connecticut), † December 1, 1954 in Cambridge, New York) was an American track and field athlete.

Hoyt was the first Olympic champion in the pole vault at the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. He won with a height of 3.30 m ahead of his compatriot Albert Tyler. He also started in the 110- meter hurdles. There he was in the lead second behind Thomas Curtis, but from starting up in the final. Curtis later became Olympic champion.

After his career, the Harvard graduate worked as a doctor. For many years he was working abroad for the U.S. Public Health Service, before he settled in the small town of Berlin in the state of New York.