50 Fun Facts About Terry Fox

What name did Fox give his 1980 run across the country?

He first told only his friend Doug Alward about the plan, framing his training as preparation for an ordinary marathon.

In which city was Terry Fox born in 1958?

He grew up in the Transcona suburb before the family moved west to British Columbia in 1966.

In which British Columbia city did the Fox family settle in 1968?

His high school there was renamed Terry Fox Secondary School in 1986, and he is buried in the city's municipal cemetery.

Fox was diagnosed with which form of cancer in 1977?

He believed a 1976 car crash had weakened his knee and left it vulnerable, though his doctors saw no connection.

Fox was told his chance of survival was 50 per cent; what had it been two years earlier?

The jump in survival rates impressed on him the value of cancer research and planted the seed for the run.

Fox studied kinesiology at which school?

His mother talked him into enrolling; he planned to become a physical education teacher and played junior varsity basketball.

Which future Paralympic star recruited Fox to his wheelchair basketball team in 1977?

Less than two months after learning the sport, Fox made the team for the national championship in Edmonton.

How many national wheelchair basketball titles did Fox win?

He was also named a North American Wheelchair Basketball Association all-star in 1980.

In which city did Fox begin his run on April 12, 1980?

He filled two bottles with ocean water, planning to keep one and pour the other into the Pacific at the finish.

Fox intended to finish by pouring his bottle of ocean water into the Pacific at which city?

The full route would have covered about 8,000 kilometres; he managed 5,373 before the cancer returned.

Roughly how far did Fox run each day?

He ran with a hop-step gait because the springs in his artificial leg needed extra time to reset after every stride.

Fox's goal was one dollar from every Canadian, which at the time meant roughly how much?

He had started by hoping for $1 million, then $10 million, before settling on a dollar a head.

Which friend drove the van and cooked meals throughout the run?

The two fought so often that by Nova Scotia they were barely speaking, and Fox's 17-year-old brother was flown in as a buffer.

Which of Fox's brothers joined the run as a peacemaker between Fox and his driver?

He was 17 at the time; a Globe and Mail story later highlighted tensions between the brothers, which Fox called 'trash'.

Which company supplied Fox's running shoes?

He refused any donation with strings attached and turned away companies that wanted him to endorse products.

What did the Ford Motor Company donate to the run?

Imperial Oil covered the fuel, and Fox wrote separately to ask for grants to buy a purpose-built running leg.

Which hotelier, who had lost a son to cancer, pledged $2 a mile and rallied other companies?

The Four Seasons founder later proposed the annual run in Fox's name and helped organize the first one in 1981.

Fox lingered in Montreal so he could reach Ottawa in time for which holiday?

He had collected over $200,000 by Montreal, roughly a third of the way through the planned route.

Which prime minister met Fox when he reached Ottawa?

He also met Governor General Ed Schreyer and was guest of honour at several sporting events in the capital.

Fox performed a ceremonial kickoff at a CFL game between the Ottawa Rough Riders and which team?

More than 16,000 fans gave him a standing ovation.

In Toronto, a crowd of 10,000 honoured Fox at which city hall plaza?

The Cancer Society estimated it collected $100,000 in donations in that one day.

Which NHL star ran alongside Fox in Toronto and gave him his 1980 All-Star Game jersey?

That evening Fox threw the first pitch at Exhibition Stadium before a Blue Jays game.

Which Hockey Hall of Famer's $25,000 cheque and handshake did Fox call the highlight of his run?

The meeting came as Fox worked his way through southern Ontario in July 1980.

Fox threw a ceremonial first pitch before a Blue Jays game against which team?

The game was at Exhibition Stadium, the Jays' home before the SkyDome opened in 1989.

Outside which Ontario city was Fox forced to end his run?

A statue and the Terry Fox Courage Highway now mark the spot where chest pains and a coughing fit stopped him on September 1, 1980.

For how many days did Fox run before the cancer forced him to stop?

Apart from rest days in Montreal taken at the Cancer Society's request, he refused to take a day off, even on his 22nd birthday.

How far had Fox run when he was forced to stop?

He refused offers from others to finish the route for him, insisting he would complete it himself once he recovered.

To which organ had Fox's cancer spread when he stopped running?

He announced the news himself at a tearful press conference the day after he was driven to hospital.

Which television network staged a nationwide telethon a week after the run ended?

The five-hour broadcast raised $10.5 million, including $1 million each from the governments of British Columbia and Ontario.

Fox remains the youngest person ever appointed to which honour?

British Columbia also gave him the Order of the Dogwood, its highest award, in the same month.

Fox won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award, which is given annually to whom?

The Canadian Press separately named him Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981.

How old was Fox when he died on June 28, 1981?

He died one month short of his 23rd birthday after developing pneumonia at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.

What unprecedented honour did the federal government order when Fox died?

The gesture was normally reserved for statesmen; his funeral was broadcast nationally and a memorial was held on Parliament Hill.

In which year was the first Terry Fox Run held?

More than 300,000 people took part that September and raised $3.5 million; schools joined the following year.

In the 2004 CBC series The Greatest Canadian, Fox finished second to whom?

His advocate on the show, Sook-Yin Lee, compared him to Phidippides, the runner who died delivering news of the Battle of Marathon.

Which amputee actor played Fox in the 1983 film The Terry Fox Story?

Robert Duvall co-starred; the film won five Genie Awards but Fox's family felt it overplayed his temper.

Who played Fox in the 2005 CTV film Terry?

He is not an amputee, so a prosthesis was digitally superimposed over his real leg.

Steve Nash directed which 2010 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about Fox?

The NBA star had been inspired by Fox as a child growing up in British Columbia.

Which Rod Stewart song was written for and dedicated to Fox?

Stewart also named his 1981–82 tour of the country the 'Terry Fox Tour'.

The 1981 Terry Fox stamp broke which long-standing rule of the national postal service?

The stamp was announced within months of his death.

In December 2024, Fox was chosen to appear on which banknote?

He already appears in the 2013 design of the passport, and a 2005 dollar coin marked the 25th anniversary of his run.

Since 2015, Manitoba has marked Terry Fox Day on which date?

The province renamed its August Civic Holiday in his honour; he was born in Winnipeg.

Fox's mother Betty carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony of which Games?

Those Games also created a Terry Fox Award for athletes showing determination and humility in the face of adversity.

Douglas Coupland's four bronze sculptures of Fox running stand outside which Vancouver venue?

Unveiled in 2011, they show Fox mid-stride, heading toward the Pacific he never reached.

Which fellow amputee completed a coast-to-coast run in 1985 after retracing Fox's route?

He had the same form of cancer; his 'Journey for Lives' raised over $13 million.

Fox was inspired by an article about Dick Traum, the first amputee to finish which race?

He read it the night before his surgery and began a 14-month training program once he could walk again.

In 1979 Fox finished last in a 17-mile road race in which British Columbia city?

He was ten minutes behind the next runner, but the other competitors met him with tears and applause.

A letter from the United States reached Fox despite being addressed only how?

At one point he was receiving more mail than the rest of his hometown combined.

How much had Fox raised by the time he was forced to stop running?

Donations kept pouring in all winter, and by April 1981 the total had passed $23 million.

What condition did Fox insist on for the annual run held in his name?

The Cancer Society initially worried a fall run would hurt its April campaigns, but the event is now the world's largest one-day cancer fundraiser.