Richard Terrance "Terry" McDermott, (nicknamed "The Essexville Rocket") (born September 20, 1940 in Essexville, Michigan) is an American gold and silver medal winning Olympic speed skater.
McDermott was a surprise winner in the 500 m at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck when he beat the favourite in that distance, reigning Olympic Champion Yevgeny Grishin, by half a second. His coach at the time was Leo Freisinger, the 500 m bronze medal winner of the 1936 Winter Olympics. McDermott's international career consisted exclusively of the 500 m at the Olympic Winter Games of 1960, 1964, and 1968.
McDermott was inducted in the National Speedskating Hall of Fame on 4 June 1977. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, McDermott took the Olympic Oath representing the judges. He currently resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is married to Virginia, and has 5 children and 11 grandchildren.
Broadcaster Jim McKay once said of McDermott, "Terry is the epitome of an amateur athlete."
On February 9, 1964, McDermott was a guest on "The Ed Sullivan Show", an appearance that was overshadowed by the first U.S. performance of The Beatles.
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“If it is the mark of the artist to love art before everything, to renounce everything for its sake, to think all the sweet human things of life well lost if only he may attain something, do some good, great work—then I was never an artist.”
—Ellen Terry (1847–1928)