50,115 articles
Bill Varley
Bill Varley (William Michael Varley, 1880–1968), American rower of New York's Atalanta Boat Club; won 1904 St. Louis Olympic gold in double sculls and silver in coxless pairs with John Mulcahy.
Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck, born William Louis Veeck Jr., was an American Major League Baseball owner and executive known for running the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Chicago White Sox.
Bill Walton
Bill Walton (1952–2024), American basketball center and broadcaster; UCLA star under John Wooden, 1972–73 NCAA titles, 88-game streak; 1977 NBA champion and Finals MVP with Portland, 1978 MVP, 1986 champion and Sixth Man with Boston.
Bill Watts
Bill Watts ("Cowboy" Bill Watts, born May 5, 1939) is an American retired wrestler, promoter, and executive, founder of Mid-South Wrestling/UWF and WCW executive vice president 1992-1993, WWE Hall of Fame 2009.
Bill Wennington
Bill Wennington, born 1963 in Montreal, is a Canadian former NBA center, 1985 first-round pick, three-time Chicago Bulls champion (1996-1998), 1984 Olympian, and longtime Bulls radio color analyst.
Bill Werbeniuk
Bill Werbeniuk (William Alexander Werbeniuk, 1947-2003), Canadian snooker player nicknamed Big Bill, world number eight in 1984-85, four-time Crucible quarter-finalist, famous for drinking lager during matches and banned over the beta-blocker Inderal.
Bill Wheatley
Bill Wheatley (William John Wheatley, 1909-1992), American basketball guard from Gypsum, Kansas; captain of the US team that won the first Olympic basketball gold at Berlin 1936, first player awarded an Olympic basketball medal.
Bill Woolsey
Bill Woolsey (William Tripp Woolsey, 1934-2022), American swimmer from Honolulu; won 4x200 m freestyle relay gold at Helsinki 1952 and silver at Melbourne 1956; NCAA champion at Indiana University.
Billericay Town F.C.
Billericay Town F.C. is an English football club in Billericay, Essex, founded in 1880, best known for winning the FA Vase three times in the late 1970s.
Billiard ball
Billiard ball: precision sphere for cue sports (pool, snooker, carom, Russian pyramid). Once ivory from Asian elephants, now cast phenolic resin (Aramith); pool 57.15 mm/156-170 g, snooker 52.5 mm.
Billiard table
Billiard table: cloth-covered slate table for cue sports (pool, snooker, carom). First recorded 1470 for Louis XI; 2:1 playing surface; WPA specs: 29.25-31 in bed height, 1-in slate, 4.5-in corner pockets.
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (born 1943), American tennis champion and equality activist; 39 Grand Slam titles, record 20 at Wimbledon, founder of the WTA, winner of the 1973 Battle of the Sexes against Bobby Riggs.
Billie Jean King Cup
Billie Jean King Cup, formerly Federation Cup (1963–1995) and Fed Cup (1995–2020), is the ITF's women's World Cup of Tennis, the largest annual women's international team competition, with a record 148 nations in 2026 and the United States holding a record 18 titles.
Billie Jean King Cup zones and group competitions
The Billie Jean King Cup zones and group competitions are regional qualifiers for the Billie Jean King Cup, run in three zones across Groups I to IV.
Billie von Bremen
Billie von Bremen (Wilhelmina Catherine von Bremen, 1909-1976), American sprinter; bronze in the 1932 Olympic 100 m (12.0) and gold in the 4x100 m relay (46.9 WR), 1932 AAU 100 m champion.
Billown Circuit
Billown Circuit: 4.25-mile triangular public-road motorcycle racing course at Castletown, Isle of Man, first raced 14 July 1955. Hosts the Southern 100, Pre-TT Classic, and Post-TT road races; mass-start format.
Bills–Chiefs rivalry
Bills–Chiefs rivalry: AFL-era football rivalry between Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs (formerly Dallas Texans); Bills lead all-time series 31-26-1, Chiefs dominate playoffs, defined by Mahomes-Allen games and the 13 Seconds overtime rule change.
Billy Bean
Billy Bean (1964–2024), MLB outfielder 1987–1995 with Tigers, Dodgers, Padres (.226, 5 HR), came out publicly in 1999, wrote Going the Other Way, and served as MLB's first Ambassador for Inclusion from 2014 until his death.
Billy Beane
Billy Beane, Oakland Athletics general manager from 1997 and later Senior Adviser, pioneered the sabermetric 'Moneyball' approach, winning seven AL West titles on low payrolls.
Billy Bonds
Billy Bonds (William Arthur Bonds, 1946-2025), English footballer and manager; West Ham United record appearance maker (799 games, 1967-1988), two-time FA Cup-winning captain, and club manager 1990-1994.
Billy Bowden
Billy Bowden (Brent Fraser Bowden, born 1963, Auckland), New Zealand cricket umpire famous for the crooked-finger out signal; 85 Tests, 221 ODIs, 48 T20Is, ICC Elite Panel 2003-2015, 200 first-class matches by 2023.
Billy Bremner
Billy Bremner (William John Bremner, 1942-1997), Scottish midfielder and captain of Don Revie's Leeds United (773 appearances, two league titles, FA Cup, League Cup, two Fairs Cups) and Scotland at the 1974 World Cup; later Leeds manager 1985-1988.
Billy Brennagh
Billy Brennagh (William Thomas Edmund Brennagh, 1877-1934), English-born Canadian lacrosse player with the Winnipeg Shamrocks; won gold in men's lacrosse at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, beating St. Louis AAA 8-2.
Billy Burns
Billy Burns (William Lawrie Burns, 1875-1953) was a Canadian lacrosse player who won gold with the Winnipeg Shamrocks at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, beating St. Louis AAA 8-2; later a CPR conductor.
Billy Cannon
Billy Cannon (1937-2018), LSU halfback, 1959 Heisman winner, famous 89-yard punt return vs Ole Miss; AFL star with Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders tight end; later dentist, counterfeiting conviction, Angola prison dentist.
Billy Christian
Billy Christian (William David Christian, born 1938, Warroad, Minnesota) is an American ice hockey forward, 1960 Olympic gold medalist who scored the tying and winning goals against the USSR, 1964 Olympian, Christian Brothers stick company co-founder, father of Dave Christian.
Billy Collins Jr.
Billy Collins Jr., American junior middleweight boxer, 14-0 (11 KOs), career ended by Luis Resto's tampered, plaster-hardened gloves at Madison Square Garden, June 16, 1983; died March 1984; Resto and Panama Lewis convicted and banned.
Billy Cunningham
Billy Cunningham, the Kangaroo Kid, Brooklyn-born 6'6" forward; UNC under Dean Smith; 1967 NBA champion and 1983 champion head coach of the 76ers; ABA MVP 1973; Hall of Fame 1986.
Billy Dawe
Billy Dawe (William Dawe, 1924–2013), Canadian ice hockey forward and captain of the Edmonton Mercurys, won gold at the 1950 Worlds and the 1952 Oslo Olympics, Canada's last hockey gold until 2002.
Billy Dean
Billy Dean (William Henry Dean, 1887-1949), English water polo player and Manchester-born Olympian who won gold with Great Britain in men's water polo at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics; also a Hyde Seal club star and former Manchester United goalkeeper.