Robert "Rob" McCall, CM (September 14, 1958 – November 15, 1991) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. With partner

Tracy Wilson Tracy Wilson, (born September 25, 1961) is a Canadian former competitive ice dancer. With partner Rob McCall, she won the Canadian national championship seven times (1982–1988), is a three-time World bronze medallist, and the 1988 Olympic ...

, he was the 1988 Olympic bronze medallist.

Biography

McCall was born in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

when he teamed up with Tracy Wilson. McCall competed with Marie McNeil early in his career. They were the 1975 Canadian novice silver medallists, 1977 Canadian junior national champions, 1978 & 1979 Canadian senior bronze medallists, 1980 silver medallists, and the 1981 national champions. They placed 13th at the

1980 World Figure Skating Championships The 1980 World Figure Skating Championships were held in Dortmund, West Germany from March 11 to 16. At the event, sanctioned by the International Skating Union, medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance ...

and the 1981 World Figure Skating Championships. Following that season, McCall teamed up with

and skated with her until his death. They were the 1982-1988 Canadian national champions and three-time World bronze medallists. They placed 8th at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

and won the bronze medal at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

. They turned professional in 1988 and skated professionally together. They toured with

Stars On Ice Stars on Ice is a touring figure skating show produced by IMG. It was co-founded in 1986 by Bob Kain, IMG executive, and Scott Hamilton, the 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist in men's figure skating. The production is a theatrical show featuring a ...

, and won the

World Professional Figure Skating Championships The World Professional Figure Skating Championships, often referred to as Landover, was an elite made-for-TV figure skating competition. It was created by Dick Button, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, through his production company Candid Productio ...

in 1989. In 1988, Wilson and McCall were made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In March 1990, whilst in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, on tour with a show, McCall became critically ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. He was diagnosed with

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. Hoping to be able to continue to skate professionally in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(which then had restrictive immigration and customs laws barring persons with AIDS) he kept the nature of his illness secret However, his health deteriorated and he died of

-related

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

on November 15, 1991, at age 33. It was an

open secret An open secret is information that was originally intended to be confidential but has at some point been disclosed and is known to many people. Open secrets are ''secrets'' in the sense that they are excluded from formal or official discourse, b ...

that he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

.Hamilton, Scott; Lorenzo Benet (1999). Landing It: My Life On And Off The Ice. New York, NY: Kensington Books. . In 2018 McCall was named one of the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotia's history.

Results

(with Marie McNeil) (with

)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCall, Robert 1958 births 1991 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Canada Canadian male ice dancers Deaths from brain cancer in Canada Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Canadian LGBTQ dancers LGBTQ figure skaters Canadian gay sportsmen Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Members of the Order of Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic figure skaters for Canada Olympic medalists in figure skating Sportspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia World Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Gay dancers 20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Skating people from Nova Scotia