Terrence McCann

Terrence John "Terry" McCann (born March 23, 1934 in Chicago , † June 7, 2006 in Dana Point ) was an American wrestler and Olympic champion.

Career

Terry McCann grew up as the son of Irish immigrants in Chicago . In high school he started wrestling as part of a school program as a 12-year-old . He later attended the University of Iowa and became an exceptionally good university wrestler. He won ten university titles in three years and lost only three fights in those years. After graduating from college, Terry McCann went to Tulsa , Oklahoma for professional reasons , got married and took up a job. He also continued training there in a wrestling club, with the aim of qualifying for the 1960 Olympic Games . From 1958 to 1960 he won the American Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) in bantamweight three times in a row , at that time up to 57 kg body weight. Although he sustained a serious knee injury shortly before the AAU eliminations for the Olympic Games, he competed in these fights and qualified with ease. At the Olympic Games himself he won the gold medal, as a completely unknown to the Eastern Europeans, who are used to victory.

After the Olympic Games in Rome he resigned from active wrestling and worked successfully as a coach in Tulsa and later in Chicago, where he had returned, for many years. In later years he also worked as a functionary in the American Wrestling Association.

Terry McCann had seven children and was an avid surfer well into old age.

International success

(OS = Olympic Games, Ba = bantamweight, F = freestyle)

• 1960, gold medal , OS in Rome , Ba, F, with victories over Edvin Vesterby , Sweden , * Paul Hänni) , Switzerland , Eduardo Campbell , Panama , one defeat against Tauno Jaskari , Finland and further victories over Michael Schakow , USSR , Tadeusz Trojanowsky , Poland and Nezhdet Zalew , Bulgaria

National successes

• 2-time NCAA champion (NCAA = umbrella organization for US university athletes),
• 3-time NCAA All-American Champion,
• 3 times American AAU champion (AAU = Amateur Athletes Union of the USA)

Web links

• Terrence McCann in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )