Brutus Hamilton

Biography Hamilton was born in Peculiar, Missouri, and grew up on a farm next door to the Harry S. Truman family farm. In the Missouri State High School championship meet in 1918, he won the high jump, pole vault, broad jump, and shot put. After that, he went on to the University of Missouri, where he won the U.S. decathlon and pentathlon championships in 1920. This qualified him for the U.S. Olympic team. At the 1920 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal in the decathlon, losing to the Norwegian Helge Løvland by only four points, and finished sixth in the pentathlon. He placed seventh in the pentathlon at the 1924 Summer Olympics. In 1965, he coached the U.S. team in the USA-USSR meet.

Brutus was also a writer and poet, and a collection of his letters was published in 1975.

Brutus Hamilton died in Berkeley, California, on December 28, 1970. In 1974 he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.