Last Saturday, Dartmouth lost one of its own, as Nordic skier Torin Tucker ’15 collapsed and died while competing in the Craftsbury Marathon in Craftsbury, Vt. Tucker is remembered by his friends, teammates and classmates for his humility, adventurous spirit and constant smile. Below are a few thoughts from some of those who knew him best.
Silas Talbot ’15:I could turn out dozens of stories about Torin, but I want to emphasize his competitive spirit that was so unique. Torin was never named to a traveling Carnival team, and until this season I would have never even thought he would have come close. Nonetheless, he brought an intensity to each and every practice that was truly inspiring.
On our long roller skis in the summer and fall, he would often hammer to the front in order to lead the long, single-file line of neon yellow shirts. During the winter, and in fact just over a week ago, he would sprint out of the bus on an easy ski day and slap on his skis just to be the first out on the trails. Sometimes Torin would pull up next to you without a word and just start hammering during an easy distance ski, which would turn into an all-out drag race to some imaginary finish line. He would do this for absolutely no reason and on a regular basis. During race days, he brought the same intensity. I can remember one mass start last year when the gun went off and he shoots to the front, skiing all over our top guys’ skis, nearly taking them out, just to be near the front of the pack. He didn’t finish the race very high up, but it was amazing to see someone who so badly wanted to have his moment of glory in a race, however short-lived it may have been.
What was most interesting to me was how, despite this burning passion inside him to compete, Torin was one of the nicest, most genuine people I’ve ever met.
Ellie Pearlman ’15:Outside of knowing Tor as a good friend on the floor, he was also my running buddy. Every spring when he wasn’t training with the ski team, he and I (and often times Christine Kanoff ’15) would go for runs together. They were always the hardest runs ... in a good way. He would push me to run the hill I would never run alone, not because he wanted to push me as a runner, but because he genuinely loved to explore the trails of New Hampshire and Vermont. I remember one time Torin, Eddie Harvey ’15 and I went for a run on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, and we got so lost that a 45-minute run ended up taking around two hours. I swore at him up every single hill (actually, I did that most runs with him, but he would always smile and just say “Awww come ooooonnn Elll”) and keep trucking up whatever mountain we were climbing. That was one of my favorite runs of my life. We got lost multiple times, but I saw some of the most beautiful running trails that I didn’t even know existed.
Also, Tor became my climbing gym buddy with Andy Suslavich ’15 as we all swore to go climbing once a week. Needless to say that did not happen, but I guarantee every time we went down to the gym it was because Tor initiated it. He was always a good friend, even if you had ignored the past 10 texts he sent you. He was inclusive of all, never held a grudge and clearly always had that big-ass grin on his face that almost made you want to punch him because you didn’t understand how anyone could be that happy.
It’s very difficult to summarize the beautiful life of Torin in such a short space. The undying energy, positivism, adventurousness and loyalty of Torin can’t possibly be explained, but rather only experienced. So I want to share a short memory of Torin that encapsulates them all.
This fall when I was training for the Chicago marathon, I asked a couple friends to go on a long training run. So four of us went out to Bragg Hill, one of my favorite spots near campus. For one reason or another I was having a terrible run, so two of our friends ran ahead. Torin stayed with me. He ran just a few steps ahead of me and playfully coaxed me up the huge hill, while I not so silently cursed his optimism and enormous smile. Despite firing multiple F-bombs and slowing to an embarrassingly slow pace, Torin continued to push me through my run with more energy than ever. After we reached the top and started running along the ridge he started telling me stories from his summer adventures to help me pass the time. Each time we passed a driveway he begged me to follow it “just for fun.” After 10 or so minutes I begrudgingly agreed to climb a seemingly unnecessary hill. Due to cramps, I ended up walking to the top of the hill. That driveway had led us to the trailhead of numerous unknown mountainous trails. It was beautiful. The sun was setting, so instead of exploring our new uncharted territory, we decided to cut through the large fields and head back to campus. What started as a shitty routine run transformed into a Tom-and-Huck sort of adventure.
That was the power of Torin. Everyone he called up to ski, bike, swim, run or explore always felt like his one and only Tom Sawyer. Yet he was everyone’s Huck. He will be sorely missed when I return to campus in the spring to finally explore the trails we discovered together.
David Brooks '15: One of the things that’s been on my mind recently is last spring break when we first got into Paris (Ellie and me), and we were looking for everyone. I don’t know how good a story it is if I told it in its entirety, but looking back it was amusing — especially with Torin being so excited to see us that I thought he was about to get hit by traffic wanting to run across it to say hi. Everything that’s already been said in The Dartmouth about the kindness of Torin can’t be overstated. I’ve never seen Torin be grouchy, mean-spirited or cross. He was unceasingly good to those around him whether they treated him kindly or not. That’s something I always thought I could learn from him. I’m sad to say that I took that for granted. I appreciate it much more now.
In the years since freshman year, our floor has always talked about how lucky we were to have each other, and it’s true. We have a very close freshman floor, so close that we adopted others along the way. One of whom was Torin. He was adopted on the floor because he wanted to be there. Looking back, I’m honored.
Peter Wolter:I am a freshman at the Community School in Sun Valley, Idaho (Torin’s high school). I am also on the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Nordic team. Torin was one my role models from the day I met him in 6th grade, when he was one of the trip leaders for a rock climbing trip. He was a Nordic skier about to attend Dartmouth, the college I want to go to. He also went to a ski camp and led me and my friends on a crust ski in Bend, Ore. The last time I saw him was over Christmas break, only about a month ago. We had a great conversation about college and how our skiing was going. Torin will forever hold a place in my memories and heart.
