William Robert Bonthron (November 1, 1912 – January 17, 1983)[1] was an American middle-distance runner who held the world record at 1500 meters for two years.
[5][6] Bonthron led most of the way and attempted to pull away in the final backstretch, only to be overhauled by Lovelock, who ran the last lap in 58.9 seconds to set a new world record of 4:07.6.
[5][6] In February 1934 Bonthron defeated 1932 and 1933 NCAA champion Glenn Cunningham in an indoor meet in New York by several inches.
The race was over 1500 meters; Cunningham went out hard and was still well ahead a hundred yards from the tape, but Bonthron came through with a blistering sprint to win by two feet in a new world record time of 3:48.8.
[1][12] Although Bonthron originally intended to retire from running after graduating,[13] he ended up not doing so; he, Cunningham and Gene Venzke remained America's leading milers in 1935.