Bill Bentsen won both his Olympic medals crewing for Buddy Melges, and they combined to win the Flying Dutchman class at the 1967 Pan American Games. Bentsen graduated from Denison College, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Minnesota and undertook post graduate studies at the London School of Economics, Yale University, and the University of Chicago, earning a PhD in economics.
Bentsen was later a faculty member at Beloit College for 10 years before becoming a full-time sports administrator with the US Yacht Racing Union. In the 1970s and 1980s he helped re-write the racing rules of sailing and race management procedures. For his work in sailing administration Bentsen was given the Beppe Croce Award, World Sailing’s highest honor, and the Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Award, the highest honor given by USA Sailing. He also worked in sailing technology and was director of One Design Sailing. In addition to open water sailing, Bentsen raced ice boats and scows. In 2017 he was inducted into the US Sailing Hall of Fame.
United States