STORY OF INSPIRATION
reading about Terry would be his love for
sports. It seemed like he did em all, he played
Baseball, Basketball, Long distance running all
throughout school and even summer breaks.
What’s even more notable and agreed upon
by everyone who knew him during that time
is his persistence. Terry was a 5 foot kid in
grade eight, whose talent in Basketball wasn’t
enough to score him any floor time, but with
his Coach’s guidance, Mr. McGill, who first
took notice of Terry as “the little guy who
worked his rear off ” and his philosophy was
not to cut anyone from the team, but he let the
boys know that only the twelve best players
would be allowed floor time. So, this naturally
gave Tarry the motivation to practice early every day and attend all team practices and stay
up late shooting hoops, till Grade Nine and he
made it to the best twelve.
It was also there that Terry made friends with
Doug Alward, who was also a member of
the Basketball team but a much better player
than Terry was, which is why he always was
surprised when Fox asked him to a one-onone, to which he replied no at first, but again
after Terry’s persistence he gave in. Doug even
remembers “I could probably beat him twenty-one to nothing, but I don’t remember if I
ever did. He might get ten points off me,” “but
the point was he couldn’t beat
me.” Yet Terry didn’t give up.
Till they got to 11th grade and
with Fox’s hard work and
determination he could finally
beat the more talented Doug twenty-one to
nothing! A little like the tortoise and the hare
right?
It was Coach McGill, who first suggested to
Terry to take up Cross-Country Running, he
thought with his small figure and work ethic
and stamina he might excel at it. And Terry
who reluctant at first, took his advice only out
of respect for the Coach and the regard he had
for him, and he hated it first! The workouts
were exhausting and the runs were incredibly
demanding, but what Fox remembered was
when they get to the finish line and the Coach
would say: “Well done, men.” That’s what Terry remembered: his teacher congratulating the
skinny boys by calling them men.
However, things wou