Charles Terence "Terry" Tobacco (born 2 March 1936) was a Canadian Olympic

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

Biography

Originally from the village of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

on Vancouver Island, Tobacco first got noticed at the age of 15 when he won both the 100 and 220 yard races at the Island high school championships. Taken under the tutelage of Victoria "Flying Y" coach Bruce Humber he was just 17 when made the national team for the

1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fi ...

, held locally in Vancouver. During the games he won two medals, a bronze in the 440 yard race and a silver in the 4x440 yard relay, in which he ran the anchor leg. For these performances he was honoured with British Columbia's "Top Male Athlete" of the year award in 1954. Tobacco was a member of the Canadian team at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

in Melbourne. In the 400 metres individual race he won his heat, before being eliminated in the quarter-final stage, but participated in the final of the 400 metres relay. The Canadians finished fifth, behind the United States, Australia, Great Britain and Germany. He ran his semi-final leg in 45.3 seconds. At the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18–26 July 1958. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games ...

in Cardiff he was a bronze medallist again in the men's 440 yards race. He was a member of the relay team that finished fourth in the 4x440. He also represented Canada at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome. Once again he made it through to the second round and he was also part of both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams which were semi-finalists. An NCAA athlete for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, Tobacco was a two-time

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

champion in the 440. He was inducted into the

Greater Victoria Greater Victoria (also known as the Greater Victoria Region) is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is usually defined as the thirteen municipalities of the Capital Regional District (CRD) ...

Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

References

External links

Terry Tobacco
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobacco, Terry 1936 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of Canada Canadian male sprinters Washington Huskies men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from British Columbia People from the Comox Valley Regional District Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games