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Billy Fiske

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Athlete

The Resume

    (June 4, 1911-August 17, 1940)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Full name was William Meade Lindsley Fiske III
    Bobsledder and pilot
    Won Olympic gold medals in five-man bobsled (1928) and four-man bobsled (1932)
    Volunteered with the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain
    Died of burns and shock suffered after his plane caught fire when its fuel tank was shot

Why he might be annoying:

    He would jump from the chandelier in the bar of Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
    He joined the RAF by using forged papers to claim Canadian citizenship.
    His funeral was heavily publicized by the British government for propaganda purposes.

Why he might not be annoying:

    At 16, he became the youngest gold medalist at the Winter Olympics (a record broken 64 years later by ski jumper Toni Nieminen).
    He was the US flag bearer at the 1932 Winter Olympics.
    He declined to participate in the 1936 Olympics to protest Nazi Germany’s anti-Semitic policies.
    He and tobacco heir Ted Ryan opened the first ski lodge and lift in Aspen (1937), which is considered the beginning of Aspen as a ski resort.
    Squadron Commander Sir Archibald Hope wrote, ‘Unquestionably, Billy Fiske was the best pilot I’ve ever known…. He picked it up so fast it wasn’t true.’
    The inscription on his gravestone simply reads, ‘He died for England.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 71 Votes: 42.25% Annoying