Toby Towson is an American

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

and dancer. He performed as the ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

dog Barkley in its debut appearance in ''

A Special Sesame Street Christmas ''A Special Sesame Street Christmas'' is a 1978 CBS Christmas special, made the same year as the better-known '' Christmas Eve on Sesame Street''. The special was first broadcast on Friday, December 8, 1978, at 8 PM ET on CBS, pre-empting ''Wonde ...

'' and in season 10. A native of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, Towson has had a career in gymnastics, acrobatics, and dance, and he was the 1968 and 1969 NCAA Gymnastics Champion in the Floor Exercise.Hickok's Sports History
/ref> He is a graduate of Michigan State University. As an assistant to U.S. Women's gymnastics coach Kelli Hill, Towson coached Olympic gymnast

Dominique Dawes Dominique Margaux Dawes (born November 20, 1976) is a retired American artistic gymnast. Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior Nati ...

. He has coached nationally with the USA Gymnastics Talent Opportunity Program and is a National Level Judge with USA Gymnastics. Through a personal friendship with the

Henson Henson may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places United States * Henson, Colorado, a ghost town * Henson, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Henson Creek, Colorado * Henson Branch, Missouri, a stream Antarctica * Mount Henson, Ross Dependency Other ...

family, Towson was tapped to model for the building of a new

character which would debut for the tenth anniversary season of Sesame Street. At first the costume was going to be an ape-like creature which could do acrobatics, so as a professional

and dancer, Towson was a natural pick. As the costume was created however, the writers decided to make it into a large furry dog whose original name was "Woov-woov", but no one was happy with that name. It was changed to "Barkley" after the first few appearances on the show. Since Towson was comfortable in the costume, and it fit him, Jim offered him a one-year contract to be on call for Children's Television Workshop, and Towson appeared as "Barkley" for several months until

Brian Muehl Brian Giuseppe Meehl (also known as Brian Muehl; born August 24, 1952), is an American puppeteer and writer. Biography Meehl was born in Canandaigua, New York and grew up mostly in Iowa City, Iowa. Meehl worked on the last six shows of '' The M ...

took over. Towson continued his acrobatic dancing career and directed the Musawwir Gymnastic Dance Company which performed from a home base in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

for ten years, from approximately 1976 to 1986. Towson taught dance for

Washington County Public Schools Washington County Public Schools (''WCPS'') is a U.S. public school system run for the residents of Washington County, Maryland. The central offices of WCPS are collectively known as the Washington County Board of Education, which is located on 10 ...

in Hagerstown, Maryland, and coached gymnastics and dance at Rainbow Gymnastics in Waynesboro,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. As of 2010, Towson performs an alphabet dancer assembly show. As of 2010, Towson lives with his wife, Kathryn Talbott, and three children in

Boonsboro, Maryland Boonsboro is a town in Washington County, Maryland, United States, located at the foot of South Mountain. It nearly borders Frederick County and is proximate to the Antietam National Battlefield. The population was 3,336 at the 2010 census. H ...

References

External links

*
, Toby Towson - Alphabet Dancer
Sportspeople from Decatur, Illinois Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) American male artistic gymnasts Living people Muppet performers Sesame Street Muppeteers Michigan State University alumni Michigan State Spartans men's gymnasts {{gymnastics-bio-stub