He was an assistant coach of the 1932 and 1936 U.S. Olympic teams and head coach of the 1952 team. The track coach at the University of California for 33 years, Brutus Hamilton was outstanding as both an athlete and coach. A multi-talented athlete at the University of Missouri, Hamilton led the 1920 Olympic decathlon for nine events, only to be overtaken in the 10th and final event. In addition to his silver medal in the decathlon, he placed sixth in the pentathlon at those Games and was seventh in the pentathlon at the 1924 Olympics. He later went into coaching at the University of Kansas before moving to the University of California in 1932. At California, his athletes set two world records and seven Olympic marks in additional to winning seven national collegiate team titles. As an assistant coach for the U.S. teams at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, he guided gold-winning decathletes James Bausch (in 1932) and Glenn Morris (1936). Hamilton was head coach of the men's team that won an outstanding 14 golds at the 1952 Olympics. Among Hamilton's athletes at the University of California were fellow Hall of Fame sprinter Harold Davis, pole vaulter Guinn Smith, and middle distance runners Jerry Siebert and Don Bowden, the first American to break four minutes for the mile.
1920 Olympics: Decathlon - 6771 pts. (2nd) 1920 Olympics: Pentathlon (6th) 1924 Olympics: Pentathlon (7th)
Coach