New sports hall of fame exhibit celebrates Terry Fox the athlete

‘He was running the greatest race of all,’ younger brother says of 5,300-km marathon

CALGARY— Terry Fox won no races nor set any Canadian running records. There wasn’t a frame of reference in 1980 for an above-the-knee amputee running almost a marathon daily on an artificial leg for 143 consecutive days.

But an exhibit unveiled Tuesday at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame just days away from his namesake run would have meant a lot to Terry Fox, says younger brother Darrell.

Terry Fox saw his Marathon of Hope as much of an athletic endeavour as it was a campaign to raise money and awareness about cancer.

“Terry did not crave recognition for himself. In fact, he ran away from it,” Darrell said. “He did appreciate being recognized as an athlete.

“He thought what he did, what he accomplished was an athletic feat, but there were no benchmarks, no standards. He wasn’t running against anyone. He was running in the greatest race of all.”

The 36th edition of the Terry Fox Run will be held in cities and towns across Canada on Sunday. About $700 million has been raised in his name for cancer treatment and research.

Fox lost his right leg to bone cancer at the age of 18 in 1977. On April 12, 1980, he dipped his prosthetic leg in- to the ocean waters off of St. John’s, N.L., to begin his cross-Canada run home to Vancouver. He was accompanied by 17-year-old Darrell and high school buddy Doug Alward.

“We were three young guys in a stinky Ford van traversing the country one mile at a time,” Darrell recalled. “I was a sponge to what Terry was accomplishing. I was witnessing it, I was seeing the reaction of everyday Canadians on the side of the road. That’s what I experience every day now from that next generation who are learning the story. They’re not only learning the story of Terry Fox. They’re embracing it.”

The return of cancer to his lungs halted Fox in Thunder Bay, Ont., after 5,342 kilometres. Fox died June 28, 1981, at age 22.

He was inducted into the sports hall of fame two months after his death.

The hall has devoted a room to the travelling exhibit entitled “Terry Fox: Running to the Heart of Canada” and organized by the Canadian Museum of History. It runs until Dec. 31.