At the beginning of his freshman fall, Torin Tucker ‘15 emailed a group of students he barely knew: “Hey guys, let’s all go hang out at the river this Sunday,” the note read. They responded with a resounding yes, relieved that someone broke the ice.
This is who Torin Tucker was.
Tucker, who died Saturday while competing in a cross-country ski race in Craftsbury, Vt., is remembered by family and friends for his compassion, inclusivity and outgoing personality.
His journey was one of adventure and accomplishment, talent and tenacity, hard-work and humility.
From the day he was born, Tucker loved being outside, said Kathryn Tucker, his mother. He started skiing both downhill and cross-country as soon as he could walk. Soon, he fell in love with the sport.
He was an alpine skier until 10th grade, when he switched to Nordic skiing and moved from Portland, Ore. to Sun Valley, Idaho, because he began outperforming local competitors, his mother said. The Tucker family decided to move to Sun Valley because its junior Nordic program is one of the nation’s best, placing many skiers in top colleges and on the Olympic team. As a member of the Sun Valley Nordic team, Tucker qualified for junior nationals in the Intermountain division before matriculating at Dartmouth.
Growing up, skiing wasn’t his only passion. When he lived in Portland, Tucker was an active member of Explorer Post 58, a group of students that engaged in rock climbing, mountaineering and other outdoor adventures. Upon moving to Sun Valley, Tucker became a wilderness first responder and continued to climb, his mother said. He also became a wilderness guide and led outdoor trips run by his high school.
Though Tucker’s extracurricular activities took up much of time, he still prioritized academics. In high school, Tucker missed one question on his SAT test, was a National Merit Scholar finalist and was accepted to every college to which he applied, his mother said.
At Dartmouth, Tucker majored in both economics and physics and studied Arabic. But it was his humility that distinguished him, his mother said.
“He had these amazing gifts, but he was super humble,” she said. “He had this innate humility that I could live three more lifetimes and not have.”
Tucker loved literature. His freshman year, he sent an email to some of his friends and floormates with a list of favorite books. Over 50 novels long, the list included everything from “The Count of Monte Cristo” to works by Ernest Hemingway and Charles Dickens. He had read them all.
During Homecoming weekend his freshman year, he ran into the McLaughlin residential cluster sporting a Speedo and a wide grin. He had touched the bonfire and wanted everyone to know it, said Olivia Field ’15, a friend of his.
“Torin had this joie de vivre and playfulness that’s rare to find,” she said. “His personality and kindness burned bright in our lives.”
A member of Chi Heorot fraternity, he lived in the house his sophomore summer. Members of the fraternity highlighted Tucker’s emphasis on spending time together, saying he would leave a lasting legacy on the house.
“When he was around and had some time to spend with us, he really wanted to get that sense of brotherhood and community,” Heorot president Austin Major ’14 said. “He just wanted to make sure the little things were going on to foster those relationships.”
Just days before his death, Tucker emailed Major to ensure that Heorot’s television was working and food would be ordered for the Super Bowl.
“He never emailed about beer or anything like that, it was more about hanging out together and being with each other,” Major said.
Since his death, members of Heorot have emphasized spending time together, honoring what Tucker would have wanted, Major said. The fraternity immediately canceled all social events for the weekend and gathered for dinner on Saturday. They then walked in unison to the men’s hockey game against Princeton University, sitting together.
In his memory, Heorot plans to create a Torin Tucker Award. The award will commemorate the values he exemplified: academics, athletics and a genuine passion for building community at Heorot. The award will be presented annually to the member who exemplifies these values. They also plan to plant a tree in the spring and keep Tucker’s picture in the house composite indefinitely, Major said.
Major is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
Friends and family said one of Tucker’s defining characteristics was his compassion.
During his sophomore summer, Tucker and a few friends decided to participate in The Prouty’s 100-mile bicycle ride, an annual event that raises money for patient services and cancer research at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center. Approaching the halfway mark, two members of the six-man team raced ahead, leaving others behind. Tucker unselfishly navigated between the two groups, supporting those behind as they ascended tough inclines while encouraging the leaders to wait for the rest of the team.
“He was choosing to ride with us,” Stuart Maeder ’15 said. “He didn’t need to.”
When Carly Wynn ’15 felt alone during her freshman fall, Tucker spontaneously joined her in the dining hall and was “exuberantly friendly,” despite not knowing her well, she said.
“He had a huge capacity for wanting to know people, wanting people to be happy and wanting to be around them,” said Karina Packer ‘15, a friend and member of the women’s ski team.
While his friends and family laud his humility and compassion, Tucker’s coaches and mentors remembered him for not only his athletic ability, but for how he seamlessly ingrained himself into new groups.
Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Nordic program director and coach Rick Kapala said that when Tucker joined the program his freshman year of high school, he immediately became part of the team’s social fabric.
“He was able to, in a very disarming way, make everyone around him feel comfortable,” he said. “He was open to everything that was there in front of him.”
Kapala recalled that Tucker possessed an innate curiosity. When his teammates would ask him why he was asking so many questions, he would respond asking, “Well, how am I supposed to learn if I don’t ask?”
Tucker could be funny in many ways, Kapala added. He came to enjoy baking at one point, and would often bring a cake with him to a dinner party or to a friend’s house, Kapala said.
Tucker was not self-conscious like others his age, which made him stand out, Kapala said.
“He was at times a quirky, funny dude, and at the same time he was such a unique character, freed from the typical teenage angst,” he said. “He was a really special guy.”
His mother said he was a particularly determined, driven individual. She said that, from a young age, Tucker had been extraordinary, exceeding in academics, athletics and everything he set his mind to. More importantly, she stressed, he pushed himself to the best of his abilities.
“He had a lot of gifts both as a learner and athlete, and he was dedicated in seeing that his potential was reached,” she said. “He went after it. Whether it was excelling in academics or sports, there wasn’t a bit of potential he was going to leave on the table.”
She paused. This desire, this drive, she said, in a way contributed to Saturday’s devastating event. Tucker had a structural anomaly in his heart, unbeknownst to him or his parents, which under normal circumstances would never have been a problem.
“Because he subjected himself to the extraordinary stress of being an elite competitive athlete, he had a sudden death from just going so hard,” she said.
During the race, his mother said, Tucker had been in the lead, far ahead. He had reached the last 8 kilometers of the 50-kilometer course.
“He was pushing to have an amazing finish and to leave nothing in the tank and the stress of that caused his sudden death,” she said. “But he didn’t have an awareness beforehand, and he didn’t suffer.”
