- Reese Hoffa
Reese Hoffa (born October 8, 1977 in Evans, Georgia) is an American shot putter. Reese won the shot put in the 2006 World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Moscow, Russia. As of 2006, his personal bests stand at 22.11 m (72' 6.25") indoor and 21.96 m (72' 0.75") outdoor.
- C. J. Hunter
Cottrell J. Hunter, III (born December 14, 1968, in Washington, D.C.) is a former American shot putter and coach. He was the 1999 World Champion, but is perhaps best known for his involvement in the BALCO scandal and as the onetime spouse of superstar sprinter Marion Jones. His personal best was 71' 9", thrown during a 2nd place finish in the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials. The 6'1", 330 lb Hunter was a three-time All-American at Penn State University, …
- Adam Nelson
Adam Nelson (born July 7, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an elite American shotputter. A 1997 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, Nelson has competed in two Olympic Games. In 1996, Nelson worked at a concession stand during the 1996 Summer Olympics in his hometown of Atlanta.
- Christian Cantwell
Christian Cantwell is an American shot putter. Cantwell's personal best throw is 22.54 meters, or 73 ft 11½ in, set in Gresham on June 5, 2004. As of July 19, 2006, he has 4 out of the 5 longest throws this year. and is favored to break the world record soon. Cantwell's accomplishment is all the more remarkable due to the decreased use of performance enhancing drugs when compared to a decade ago.
- John Godina
John Carl Godina (born May 31, 1972 in Fort Sill, Oklahoma) is an American shot putter, whose record includes three World Championship wins and two Olympic medals. He also competes in discus.
- Randy Barnes
Eric Randolph "Randy" Barnes (born June 16, 1966) is an American shot putter who holds outdoor and indoor distance records. He won silver at the 1988 Olympics and gold at the 1996 Olympics. Barnes was born in Charleston, West Virginia and began throwing the shot put in high school. In 1985, he threw an impressive 66 ' 9.5" (20.36 m) with the prep shot of 12 lb (5.44 kg). After graduating from St. Albans High School near Charleston in 1985, …
- Kevin Toth
Kevin Toth (born 29 December 1967 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former American shot put athlete. His personal best throw is 22.67 meters, which places him 7th on the all-time performers list (see
- Ralph Rose
Ralph Waldo Rose (born March 17, 1885 in Healdsburg, California, deceased October 16, 1913) was an American athlete. A giant of a man at 6' 5 1/2" and 250 pounds, Ralph Rose was the first shot putter to break 50 feet. His world record of 51' 0", set in 1909, lasted for 16 years. In 1904, while at the University of Michigan, he won both the shot put and discus at the Big Ten championships. He subsequently competed for the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California.
- Parry O'Brien
William Patrick "Parry" O'Brien was an American shot put champion. Born in Santa Monica, California, he competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals (1952, 1956) and one silver medal (1960). In his last Olympic competition (1964) he placed fourth. For this, he is inducted in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. In the early 1950s, O'Brien developed a new method for throwing the 16-pound shotput.
- Randy Matson
James Randel "Randy" Matson (born March 5, 1945 in Kilgore, Texas) is a former United States Olympic shot put thrower.
- Kristin Heaston
Kristin Heaston (born November 23 1975 in California) is a female American shot putter. In 2003 Kristin became the USA indoor and outdoor shot put champion. At the 2004 Olympic Games Kristin became the first woman ever to compete at the ancient site Olympia. In 2005 she became USA outdoor champion at shot put for the second time. She finished thirteenth at the 2001 Summer Universiade and seventh at the 2006 World Athletics Final.
- Garrett Johnson
Garrett W. Johnson (born May 24, 1984 in Tampa, Florida) is an elite American shot putter. Johnson won the 2006 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Shot Put Championship. Johnson also was named a Rhodes Scholar in 2006 on behalf of the United States.
- Helen Stephens
Helen Herring Stephens (February 3, 1918 - January 17, 1994) was an American athlete, a double Olympic champion in 1936. Stephens, nicknamed the "Fulton Flash" after her birthplace Fulton, Missouri, was a strong athlete in sprint events - she never lost a race in her entire career - but also in weight events like the shot put and discus throw, and she won national titles in both categories of events. Aged only 18, Stephens was sent out to the 1936 Summer Olympics.
- Clarence Houser
Lemuel Clarence 'Bud' Houser (September 25 1901, Winigan, Missouri - October 1 1994, Gardena, California) was an American field athlete. Houser went to college in Oxnard, California and between 1920-22 he participated in the California State Track Meets. His six wins in shot put and discuss, each time breaking a state record, made him the most successful meet participant ever.
- Brian Oldfield
Brian Oldfield (born June 1, 1945) was an American athlete and personality of the 1970s and early 1980s. A standout shot putter, he is credited with making the rotational technique popular. With his "Oldfield spin" he had set and reset the indoor and outdoor world records in the sport. However, due to his status as a professional athlete, his records were never officially recognized.
- Bruce Bennett
Bruce Bennett (May 19 1906 - February 24 2007) was an American actor billed in his Tarzan films under his birth name of Herman Brix.
- Lillian Copeland
Lillian Copeland (November 25, 1904 - July 7, 1964) was an American athlete, who excelled in the throwing events. Copeland was born in New York to Polish Jewish immigrants. Her father died when she was young, and her mother remarried and they moved to Los Angeles.
- Robert Garrett
Robert S. Garrett (May 24, 1875 - April 25, 1961) was an American athlete. He was the first modern Olympic champion in discus throw and shot put. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, Garrett came from a wealthy family and studied in Princeton University. He excelled in track and field athletics as an undergraduate, and was captain of the Princeton track team in both his junior and senior years.
- Connie Price-Smith
Connie Price-Smith (born 3 June 1962 in St. Charles) is an American shot putter and discus thrower. Her personal best put is 19.60 metres, achieved in June 1994 in Knoxville. Her personal best discus throw is 64.82 metres, achieved in June 1987 in San Jose.
- Teri Steer
Teri Steer (born 3 October 1975) is an American shot putter. In 1999 she won bronze medals at the World Indoor Championships and the Pan American Games and finished ninth at the World Championships. Her personal best throw is 19.21 metres, achieved in April 2001 in Des Moines. She is married to shot putter Christian Cantwell, having previously been married to Canadian discus thrower Jason Tunks. She hails from Crete, Nebraska and currently resides in Columbia, Missouri.
- Michael Carter
Michael D'Andrea Carter, is a former U.S. Olympian track & field athlete and American pro football player. Carter is best known in track & field for setting the national high school record of 81 feet 3 ½ inches in the 12 pound shot put, adding more than nine feet to the record previous to Carter. He set this mark at the 1979 Golden West Invitational track & field meet while competing for Jefferson High School of Dallas, TX.
- Terry Albritton
Terry Albritton (January 14, 1955-September 1, 2005) was an American athlete and coach. He was born in Newport Beach, California.
- Mike Stulce
Michael ("Mike") Stulce is a former shot putter from the United States who was an outstanding athlete at Texas A&M University. He won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He is also three times national champion in 1993 he won the U.S. National shot put Championships. <br>
- Jim Doehring
Jim Doehring (born 27 January,1962) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain in the shot put where he won the silver medal. Previous to this, he had tested positive for a banned steroids.
- Dallas Long
Dallas Long was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy in the shot put where he won the bronze medal behind fellow Americans Bill Nieder and Parry O'Brien. He returned four years later to Tokyo for the 1964 Summer Olympics where he finally won the gold medal in the men’s shot put.
- Bill Nieder
Bill Nieder (born 10 August, 1933) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1956 Olympic Games and received a silver medal for his 18.18 m long throw. Nieder later received a Gold for his throw of 19.68 m in the 1960 summer Olympic games held in Rome, Italy. He is a hometown legend and friend of the lawrence, ks community.
- Richard Sheldon
Richard Sheldon was the winner of the gold medal in the men's shot put at the 1900 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. Sheldon, an American, won with a throw of 14.10 m. He also won a bronze medal in the discus throw.
- Wilbur Thompson
Wilbur Marvin "Moose" Thompson (born 6 April,1921) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1948 Summer Olympics held in London, Great Britain in the shot put where he won the gold medal.
- George Woods
George Woods (b. February 11, 1943) was an Olympic track and field athlete. With little formal coaching, Woods became the first Missouri high school athlete to top 60 ft (18.3 m) in the shot put event. He would go on to attend Southern Illinois University (Carbondale). In a competitive career that spanned 3 Olympiads, Woods knew what it was to almost reach the top of the mountain. After winning the US Olympic track and field team trails in the shot put in 1968, …
- Al Blozis
Albert Charles Blozis (January 5, 1919 - January 21, 1945) was a world-class athlete who died in World War II.
- Nate Englin
Nate Englin is an American shot putter from Shoreview, Minnesota, among the top junior throwers in the United States and currently throws for the Missouri Tigers.
- Jillian Camarena
Jillian Camarena (born 2 August 1982) is an American shot putter. Her personal best is 19.02 metres, achieved in July 2006 in Spokane. She is listed at 6 foot tall and 250lbs. She is noted at having the largest forearms in women's shotput at 17 inches.
- Gary Gubner
Gary Gubner (born December 1, 1942, in New York, New York) was an American shotputter, weightlifter, and discus hurler. Gubner became the best shotputter in the world as a teenager. He threw the 16-lb. ball 53 feet when he was 16.
- Glenn Hartranft
Samuel Glenn "Tiny" Hartranft was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. A graduate of Stanford University, he competed for the United States in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France in the shot put where he won the silver medal. Hartranft was head football coach at San Jose State University from 1942 to 1946.
- Earlene Brown
Earlene Dennis Brown (born June 11, 1935 - died 1983) was a U.S. African American athlete notable for her careers in the sports of track and field and roller derby. Brown was born in Laredo, Texas.
- Leo Sexton
Leo Joseph Sexton was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in the shot put where he won the gold medal.
- John Kuck
John Kuck (Apr 27 1905 - Sept 1986) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot put. He competed for the United States in the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in the shot put where he won the gold medal.
- Patrick McDonald
Patrick Joseph McDonald (July 29, 1878 - May 16, 1954) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the throwing events. He competed for the United States in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, Sweden in the shot put where he won the gold medal. He also took part in the shot put (both hands) competition where the distance thrown with each hand was added together. This was the only time this event was held in the Olympic program, …
- Ramona Pagel
Ramona Pagel (born 10 November 1961 in Los Angeles) is a retired American shot putter. Her personal best put was 20.18 metres, achieved in June 1988 in San Diego.
- Dave Laut
Dave Laut (born 21 December,1956) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the shot putt. He competed for the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in the shot putt where he won the bronze medal.