# How well-known is Terry Fox outside of Canada?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 16, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917 "2012-09-16T22:24:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/1 "2012-09-16T22:24:49Z")
I just watched the end of a documentary on Terry and had a lump in my throat the entire time. It made me wonder; is he well-known internationally?
Poll coming.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/2 "2012-09-16T22:35:21Z")
Sorry, I have never heard of him. (British, former U.S. resident. I only visited Canada [Montreal] once, briefly, but I had a Canadian brother-in-law and met him and members of his Canadian family numerous times.)
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/3 "2012-09-16T23:01:17Z")
Never heard of him/her.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/4 "2012-09-16T23:19:43Z")
I know about him (I live in Australia and have only visited Canada once), but purely because we have an annual 10 km Terry Fox Fun Run which I used to compete in. It’s held around Canada Day and finishes at the Canadian Embassy here in Canberra. They provide pancakes and maple syrup for all finishers.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/5 "2012-09-16T23:35:34Z")
Never heard of him.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/6 "2012-09-16T23:37:09Z")
Never heard of him.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/7 "2012-09-16T23:43:08Z")
I vaguely remember him doing his run, but if I hadn’t seen the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary recently, I wouldn’t remember him at all.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/8 "2012-09-16T23:46:39Z")
I put down “who?” but after I voted I looked him up. I remember when it happened but the name is not widely known now.
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### Author:  [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/9 "2012-09-16T23:57:12Z")
I didn’t recognize the name, but when I saw that you referred to his story being sad I had a feeling that he was “That Guy” who I remember reading about.
I googled to confirm, and yes, that’s the guy I was thinking you probably meant. I do remember hearing about his story before even though his name is not well known.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/10 "2012-09-16T23:57:14Z")
US, 42 hrs old. Very famous. I think most Americans who are unaware if him, are so because of their age (too young), not because of their not being Canadian. (In other words, his fame as a household name was rather fleeting, at least in the US.)
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/11 "2012-09-17T00:13:51Z")
This is how much I know about Canada:
Trees, mountains, bears, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto, Newfoundland, First Nations, poutine.
The end.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/12 "2012-09-17T00:21:15Z")
Oh, and moose, eh.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/13 "2012-09-17T00:22:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> This is how much I know about Canada:
>
> Trees, mountains, bears, Quebec, Vancouver, Toronto, Newfoundland, First Nations, poutine.
>
> The end.
And yet your location field is Alberta. Curious! [If you don’t get it, the province of Alberta is associated with the wild rose: there’s a Wild Rose political party, and it’s on the licence plates, etc.]
I had never heard of Terry Fox, and I’m Canadian (though born and raised in the US, so culturally mostly USAian). He is ubiquitous here: there’s a statue of him at work, and he’s on some of the [dollars](http://image.usedottawa.com/photos/01/88/17819488_300.jpg).
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/14 "2012-09-17T00:31:34Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#):
>
> [If you don’t get it, the province of Alberta is associated with the wild rose: there’s a Wild Rose political party, and it’s on the licence plates, etc.].
Oops. I use that because it’s a Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue song, which you’re all supposed to connect with Australia, though probably nobody does.
Anyway, I do not know Terry Fox.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/15 "2012-09-17T00:37:19Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#):
>
> I know about him (I live in Australia and have only visited Canada once), but purely because we have an annual 10 km Terry Fox Fun Run which I used to compete in. It’s held around Canada Day and finishes at the Canadian Embassy here in Canberra. They provide pancakes and maple syrup for all finishers.
The only people I’ve known who know who he is were involved in running at that time(or soon after).
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/16 "2012-09-17T00:40:03Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> US, 42 hrs old. Very famous. I think most Americans who are unaware if him, are so because of their age (too young), not because of their not being Canadian. (In other words, his fame as a household name was rather fleeting, at least in the US.)
US, late 40s, never heard of him.
Just looked him up on Wikipedia. I was living in Michigan at the time, and it still doesn’t ring a bell.
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### Author:  [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/17 "2012-09-17T00:46:39Z")
US, early 40’s… I actually remember that “HBO Original Movie” about him (Robert Duvall was one of the principal players in it) - that was one of my favorite movies as a kid.
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### Author:  [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/18 "2012-09-17T02:23:55Z")
34 Yank, familiar with his sotry.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/19 "2012-09-17T02:35:47Z")
I knew who he was but I wouldn’t expect most Americans to know about him. I’m American but I’m over 50 and live in a border state, so that might explain why I know who he is.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-well-known-is-terry-fox-outside-of-canada/634917/20 "2012-09-17T02:55:07Z")
I’m from the U.S. shore of Lake Erie, 53 years old, and I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re all talking about.
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