Dick Traum is the founder of the Achilles Track Club

Achilles Track Club

The Achilles Track Club, now known as Achilles International, was established by Dick Traum in 1983 to encourage disabled people to participate in mainstream athletics. Achilles has become an international organization that provides support, training, and technical expertise to runners at all levels...

 for disabled athletes. In 1976 he completed the New York City Marathon

New York City Marathon

The New York City Marathon is a major annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is one of the largest marathons in the world, with 45,103 finishers in 2010...

, becoming the first runner to complete such an event with a prosthetic leg.

Terry Fox

Terry Fox

Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox , was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research...

 credited reading an article about Traum's marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 running with inspiring his cross-Canada run for cancer research

Cancer research

Cancer research is basic research into cancer in order to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatments and cure....

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In 2010, Taum was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.