I only know him because my kids live in Canada and my son dis some class project on him.
I kind of inferred that all on my own, thanks. The personal pronouns were kind of a tipoff.
I’m afraid I’m one of the “who?” respondents. Having googled him, I’m now in the “aaaaah” field, and reasonably sure I’d never heard of the gentleman before this thread.
Spaniard, '68 vintage.
I’m a Canadaphile, but I pay no attention to sports news, and I had no television throughout the 1980s.
American. I had heard of him, but only knew that he had something to do with running, no details.
US, 53 years old.I guessed some sort of hockey star, then googled.
Californian, 42 years old, I know about him but I’m a long-distance runner - if I wasn’t I have a feeling I wouldn’t know about him.
Also grew up with HBO in the early 80’s, so yep.
Ditto.
I voted “other”, because I considered him “well known” at the time of his run, but that was many years ago, and I haven’t heard anything about him lately.
US, 57, think I’ve heard the name but since I could summon up zero info other than “think I’ve heard the name” I voted “Who?”
55, in Arizona. All I know about him is that he has never been in my kitchen.
Hmmm…when I heard the name I thought "either he’s the guy that ran across the country for cancer, or he’s the guy that murdered the prostitutes and fed them to the hogs. " Now off to find the hog farmer…
StG
I’m 45. Before I looked if up if you put a gun to my head I wouldn’t have been able to remember who he was by his name. After looking him up I remembered the story. But its been 20 something years since I heard the name.
Now Terry Funk I know right away. Old time hard nosed wrestler. Sometime actor. He was one of the bad guys in Roadhouse. See, my brain knows how to prioritize.
The OP didn’t provide any context, so, FYI, he tried to run across Canada with one leg to raise money for cancer research (cancer claimed his one leg). Unfortunately, he relapsed during the run and soon died.
He became a national symbol for fortitude and is considered one of our greatest citizens. There are annual runs across the country - Terry Fox Runs - that continue to raise money for cancer research.
Another one-legged cancer survivor - Steve Fonyo - repeated his feat and successfully ran across the country. Unfortunatley, he was something of a drunken loser and is one of the few people to have ever received the Order of Canada (pretty much our highest citizen honour) and then had it stripped for being an embarrassment to the honour.
Terry died several decades ago, but pretty much every Canadian knows who he is/was.
I read about him in one of my trivia books.
So you’re saying that the answer to “How well known is Terry Fox outside of Canada” is he is well-known in Canada?
From the US, in my early 50s.
Yes, I heard about him at the time of his run, and remembered his name. But I’m not surprised that so many people, including folks in my age group, haven’t heard of him. So I voted the second option.
American here. I was in high school when he made his run, and probably at least heard a little about it then. I do know more about him now, but that’s almost entirely because I’m now a runner myself, and see him described from time to time in running magazines and web sites.
Early 40s, American. I know who he is although I’m not super familiar with all the details. This thread proves my vote that “I know him but he’s not well-known” (outside of Canada).
The main reasons I know who he was is that 1) my wife is half Canadian and 2) I saw a big monument to him on a trip to Canada once, but I don’t remember where. Probably wherever he started his run - Halifax maybe?
ETA: Ah, he started in Newfoundland, so it wasn’t there. Hmm. Where is that statue?
ETA2: Thunder Bay! Where he stopped.