Awarded Life Membership 8 May 1976
Birth: 1905
Death: 21 May 1994
Born in South Africa before moving to Australia in 1921, William (Bill) Young brought his passion for cycling with him on his journey to Australia.
Moving from competition to administration he became secretary of the NSW Amateur Cyclist Union in 1948, a position he held until 1957 before becoming President/Chair from 1958 to 1974. He was also Secretary of the Australian Amateur Cycling Union.
Bill served as Cycling Section Manager at the Vancouver 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and Melbourne 1956 and Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games before moving onto Team Headquarters roles as Team General Manager at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff 1958, Kingston 1966 and Christchurch 1974. He was Assistant General Manager of the Mexico 1968 Olympic Team. He was a member of the advance party to the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh 1970 the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton 1978.
Bill was elected President of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association in 1977 – a position he held for two years.
He was President of the NSW Olympic Council and resigned the position after the Australian Olympic Federation voted against the boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games. Young believed “the seriousness of world events is sufficient reason for the AOF to have headed the advice of the government of the day.”
For his lifetime of service to sport, Bill was awarded the Order of the British Empire – Member (Civil) (Imperial) (MBE) in 1968 ‘For cycling’, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1986 ‘For service to sport, particularly through the Olympic and Commonwealth Games Associations’ and Life Memberships of NSW Cycling (1950), the Australian Cycling Federation (1979) and Australian Olympic Federation.
