William Kenneth Carpenter (April 19, 1913 – March 15, 1984) was the USC

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

's first two-time NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 champion in a weight event. In 1936, Carpenter captured the gold medal

Olympic medalist

An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal: gold, silver and bronze. The winner is awarded the gold medal, the runner-up the silver medal, and the third place competitor is awarded the bronze medal...

 in the discus throw

Discus throw

The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...

 at the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

 with a toss of 50.48 meters. Between 1936 and 1940, he held the American record in discus and won the NCAA national title with a toss of 157 feet.

Carpenter graduated from Compton High School

Compton High School

Compton High School is a high school in Compton, California, part of the Compton Unified School District.-School history:The school first opened in 1896 as Compton Union High School and then later reestablished as Compton Senior High School in the 1950s after the new community college campus opened...

, where he was a track and field star. After attending USC, Carpenter went on to serve in the Navy

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

 and then began his career as a coach and teacher at the College of the Sequoias

College of the Sequoias

College of the Sequoias is a public two-year community college located in Visalia in Tulare County, in California's San Joaquin Valley. The current enrollment of COS is 13,000 students, and the college offers a variety of transfer, vocational, and community-based classes, including the fire/police...

 and Compton Community College

Compton Community College

El Camino College Compton Center operates as a "center" of El Camino College. Under an agreement with El Camino College, Compton Center is open and offers accredited El Camino College courses to residents of Compton, Carson, Lynwood, Paramount and parts of North Long Beach...

. http://www.compton.edu/administration/president.html

Carpenter appears in Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl

Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...

's film of the 1936 Olympic Games, Olympia

Olympia (1938 film)

Olympia is a 1938 Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit . It was the first documentary feature...

. He died at the age of 70 in 1984.