William Frank (athlete)


William Gottlieb Frank was an American track and field athlete who was born in Besigheim, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He arrived in the United States in 1889. Frank was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club and the Twenty-Second Regiment of the New York National Guard. Frank was also a police officer assigned to the New York City Police Department's 74th Precinct.
Competing as a member of the New York National Guard, Twenty-second Regiment, Frank won the 3-mile race for the championship of the Military Athletic League in 1905. He also won the national indoor 10-mile championship at Madison Square Garden in 1906.
He competed for the United States in the 1906 Intercalated Games held in Athens, Greece in the 5 mile race and the Marathon, where he came in third place, winning the bronze medal.
About 1902 he married Adelaide Wingrove, a native of Astoria, and they had one child, a daughter Adelaide Johanna, in 1903.