University of Michigan Hall of Honor
Fonville, Charlie
Charlie Fonville
- Induction:
- 1979
- Class:
- 1950
Charles Fonville became the eighth Michigan track and field athlete to win the shot put at the Big Ten championship during the 1947 indoor meet at Champaign, Illinois. But Fonville was no ordinary shot put champion. The Detroit native, who blew the field away at the 1947 Big Ten and NCAA Championships, went on to post a world-record mark of 58 feet, 1/4 inch in the spring of 1948. Once again, Fonville sewed up all three titles, the Big Ten indoor and outdoor and the NCAA crowns. A sure bet to make the Olympic squad for the games in London, Fonville's career was seemingly finished when he suffered a slipped disc in his back in the early summer of 1948. While American Wilbur Thompson was winning the Olympic shot put with a distance of just 56 feet, 2 inches, Fonville was undergoing surgery to repair his back. He did riot compete during 1948-49, and few expected to see him at a collegiate meet again. But at the Michigan AAU relays held in Yost Field House, there was Fonville, returning to the circle he had dominated just 18 months earlier. On his second throw back, he hurled the 16-lb. ball 55 feet, 1 inch, a mark that would have earned him the silver medal at the Olympics. Though he was not nearly as dominant as before, Fonville still had enough left in his system to gather the 1950 Big Ten Indoor title in the shot put, following William Watson as Michigan three-time winners in that event.
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