Bigger Canadian icon - Wayne Gretzky or Terry Fox?

[Canadiens1958]

When he is dead, he may very well will.

Schools in Canada have been named after the living for generations.

The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I file this under "Not Everything Needs to be a Competition". However, I get what you're trying to do. I agree that Gretzky is internationally the most recognizable Canadian of the two.

i bet steve nash is probably more internationally famous than either, tbh. not that that’s an indication of anything of great importance.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

i think some are confusing bigger for more important.

Obviously Fox is more important, not even a conversation.

Bigger implies more famous/well known, even outside of the country.

Look at it this way. Go to Japan and ask a random person to name an American icon and you're more likely to get an athlete or a pop star than you are to get Martin Luther King.

 

[DannyGallivan]

i bet steve nash is probably more internationally famous than either, tbh. not that that’s an indication of anything of great importance.

I bet Justin Beiber smokes them all

 

[Tarantula]

I guess for those not alive and not following Fox on his run and the sad circumstances that prevented it's completion don't have the same level of connection as those of us that were alive did. Kind of like how many kids today can't name the major countries in WW2, which for those of us who had family members that fought, died, or displaced seems unfathomable.

Soon you will have co workers who weren't born before 9/11, time humbles all.

 

[puckpilot]

I think Gretzky is the iconic face of Canada and is the most recognizable around the world. But Fox represents the heart of our values.

When you describe what a stereotypical Canadian hero is, you inevitably end up describing Fox, even if it's not by name.

I mean to encapsulate his determination, he ran a marathon on one leg the day before the doctors diagnosed him with cancer again.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Gretzky is not as well known in Canada as Terry Fox. Every Canadian child learns about Terry Fox in school; every new citizen learns about Terry Fox; almost every segment of Canadian society knows Fox.

I don't know for the rest of Canada but certainly not here in the Quebec province or not everywhere in the province at least.

 

[Nick Hansen]

I don't know for the rest of Canada but certainly not here in the Quebec province or not everywhere in the province at least.

I understand caring for your French-Canadian heritage but I'd think Terry Fox goes beyond that...

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

I understand caring for your French-Canadian heritage but I'd think Terry Fox goes beyond that...

Even if he goes beyond that, I still never learned about him in school in contrary at what the other poster mentioned and he said "every Canadian".

 

[Sentinel]

I've never heard of Terry Fox.

But I am not sure Wayne Gretzky is a bigger name worldwide than Justin Bieber, Geddy Lee, or Leonard Cohen.

 

[sr edler]

Geddy Lee

Who is that?

 

[Sentinel]

Who is that?

Rush

 

[Canadiens1958]

I don't know for the rest of Canada but certainly not here in the Quebec province or not everywhere in the province at least.

Even in small towns:

Marche Terry Fox | École primaire Saint-Joseph de Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge

 

[sr edler]

Rush

Ahah. I’m more of a Joni Mitchell/Oscar Peterson fan myself. I like my folk music/jazz.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Even in small towns:

Marche Terry Fox | École primaire Saint-Joseph de Notre-Dame-de-Stanbridge

I don't even know this place lol...

But I saw it was a small town near of Montreal so maybe because of this but certainly not in other cities far away from Montreal like mine.

 

[Canadiens1958]

I don't even know this place lol...

But I saw it was a small town near of Montreal so maybe because of this but certainly not in other cities far away from Montreal like mine.

Traveled extensively throughout Quebec, Abitibi to the Gaspé and the Terry Fox run and fundraising is present especially when cancer strikes a youngster or a popular member of the community.

 

[Tuna Tatarrrrrr]

Traveled extensively throughout Quebec, Abitibi to the Gaspé and the Terry Fox run and fundraising is present especially when cancer strikes a youngster or a popular member of the community.

Really? I didn't know it.

But my point was that I still never learned about him in school in contrary at what another poster mentioned and he said "every Canadian". And I know that I'm not the only one for sure.

 

[Staniowski]

I've never heard of Terry Fox.

But I am not sure Wayne Gretzky is a bigger name worldwide than Justin Bieber, Geddy Lee, or Leonard Cohen.

Yes, there are many Canadians in the entertainment world who are better known internationally than Gretzky or Fox.

 

[The Panther]

I would like to now point out that Gretzky has lived longer in the US than he ever did in Canada.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

I also feel like bobby Orr is more known than Gretzky in Canada. Or am I out to lunch?

 

[blood gin]

I also feel like bobby Orr is more known than Gretzky in Canada. Or am I out to lunch?

Well Orr has been an icon for longer than Wayne due to his age. But I think Wayne has long since surpassed Orr in popularity.

 

[MadLuke]

Depends on the definition of icon. Gretzky is easily the most recognizable Canadian name around the world. But at the end of the day, he was just really good at a game. Terry Fox embodied courage, strength, passion, resiliency, selflessness and so many other things, he was a true hero and something for every Canadian to look up to.

Not sure about easily ?
Alexander Graham Bell, Céline Dion, James Cameron, Jim Carrey, even Drake or Bieber probably make a good competition in many Asian Market even Europe/South America. George St-Pierre in South America, Japan is quite known also. Gretzky last season was 21 year's ago when around 35% of humanity was not born. He is an obvious candidate for sure, but I am not sure he is easily a more recognizable name around the world than Dion or Cameron.

That said with the International competition wearing Canada color, being an Hockey Player, playing a while in Canada I would assume he is much more associated to Canada than most if not all those name (most that know Carrey or Cameron have no idea they are Canadian for example), making Greztky a bigger Canadian icon than those guys.

I would also agree that in Québec, Terry Fox is not has big as a phenomenon than in the ROC.

 

[reckoning]

Terry Fox was admired and idolized even by people who had no interest in sports.

It's hard to explain to people who weren't around back then, but the inspiration of his marathon and the sadness of his death had an impact on this country that hasn't been matched by anything in my lifetime.

 

[MadLuke]

I also feel like bobby Orr is more known than Gretzky in Canada. Or am I out to lunch?

When Canadian vote for the greatest Canadian ever, Wayne come up ahead quite a bit of Orr.

The Greatest Canadians of CBC

top 10:

1	T.C. Douglas
2	Terry Fox
3	Pierre Trudeau
4	Sir Frederick Banting
5	David Suzuki
6	Lester Pearson
7	Don Cherry
8	Sir John A. Macdonald
9	Alexander Graham Bell
10	Wayne Gretzky

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

11: Métis leader and martyr Louis RielWith a report from Canadian Press
.......
18: Singer Shania Twain
19: Hockey player Bobby Orr
20: Comedian and actor Mike Myers
21: The Unknown Soldier
22: Kinsmen founder Hal Rogers
23: Hockey player Maurice "The Rocket" Richard
24: First World War General Arthur Curry
25: Suffragette Nellie McClung
.......
36: Ernie Coombs and his TV character Mr. Dressup.
37: Native warrior Tecumseh
38: Hockey player Mario Lemieux
....
53: Gordie Howe
59: Tim Horton
67: Patrick Roy
68: Jean Béliveau
79: Ed Belfour

 

[blood gin]

Terry Fox was admired and idolized even by people who had no interest in sports.

It's hard to explain to people who weren't around back then, but the inspiration of his marathon and the sadness of his death had an impact on this country that hasn't been matched by anything in my lifetime.

Same could be said of Gretzky. Though in a different way. Even by those who cared little about sports the way Gretzky performed at such a level far beyond his peers and what a great representative he was of the country. He was admired and used as an example as the type of excellence you should strive for in any walk of life .

Gretzky is still alive so we don't quite know how it will be when he goes in comparison to Fox. But I suspect it will be a massive outpouring of grief