Bill Payne (born 21 December 1967) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er. He won the silver medal at the

1991 Summer Universiade __NOTOC__ The 1991 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XVI Summer Universiade and generally referred to as the World Student Games, were held in Sheffield, England from 14 to 25 July 1991. The Games were the largest sporting event to be ho ...

, and competed at the 1995 World Championships without reaching the final. His personal best is 5.86 metres, achieved in May 1991 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. This result secures him a place on the all-time list in pole vault, and places him thirteenth on the American all-time list behind

Jeff Hartwig Jeff Hartwig (born September 25, 1967 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American pole vaulter. Biography In 1998, Hartwig set two North American records with and . The latter was an improvement of 16 centimetres from his personal best of from 1997 ...

, Timothy Mack,

Toby Stevenson Toby "Crash" Stevenson (born November 19, 1976 in Odessa, Texas) is an Olympic class pole vaulter from the United States. He is known for being the only pole vaulter in the international elite to wear a helmet during jumps. Biography While atte ...

, Brad Walker, Lawrence Johnson, Scott Huffman, Joe Dial, Dean Starkey, Jacob Davis,

Nick Hysong Nick E. Hysong (born December 9, 1971 in Winslow, Arizona) is an American athlete competing in the men's pole vault. Best known for winning the Olympic gold medal in 2000 with a personal best jump of 5.90 metres, he also won a bronze medal at the ...

Kory Tarpenning Kory Merrill Tarpenning (born February 27, 1962 in Portland, Oregon) is a retired American pole vaulter best known for finishing fourth at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, having previously competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

and

Earl Bell Earl Holmes Bell (born August 25, 1955) is a retired American pole vaulter. He competed at the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1984, placing fourth in 1988 and sixth in 1976. He also briefly held the world record in 1976, ...

.IAAF top lists, men's pole vault
/ref> He is married with four children. His daughter, Demi Payne, is also a pole vaulter, one of the top ten female vaulters in history.

References

* 1967 births Living people American male pole vaulters Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade {{US-polevault-athletics-bio-stub