Dennis John Coi
August 11, 1961-September 1, 1987
Photo courtesy "The Canadian Skater" magazine
Born in North Vancouver, Dennis Coi started skating at the age of ten at the North Shore Winter Club. His earliest success in figure skating came at the 1974 Canadians in Moncton, when he won the bronze medal in novice pairs with Julie Mutcher. By the age of fifteen, he passed his Gold tests in figures and free skating. In 1978, he won the Canadian junior men's title and the World Junior Championships in Megève, defeating both Brian Boitano and Brian Orser. He won the bronze medal at the 1982 Canadians in Brandon and narrowly missed a spot on the 1984 Canadian Olympic team. He passed away at the age of twenty-six on September 1, 1987.
Left photo courtesy "The Canadian Skater" magazine
Memories of Dennis Coi from Michael Clarkson's 1992 piece in "The Ottawa Citizen": "Dennis Coi was another humorous man, a flamboyant skater who defeated Orser and Brian Boitano of the U.S. to win the 1978 world junior singles crown. Coi's pranks are legendary in skating. When his national teammates did poorly in a competition in Europe, he carved medals out of bread and hung them around their necks. Coi refused to change his clown's outlook when death faced him at age 26 in 1987. 'He was a ray of sunshine. He would smile all through his program,' says [Osborne] Colson, who won the Coi memorial award for 'keeping skating in perspective.' When told he had AIDS, Coi dressed up in a fluorescent Spandex outfit and rode around Vancouver on a red motor scooter. Later, dying in hospital, he gave a TV interview - 'still performing to the end, with his hair dyed red,' recalls [Mrs. Ellen] Burka. Coi died in his mother's arms while doing one of his favorite things - playing bingo. 'He missed a bingo by one number and said, 'Oh s---.' Those were two of the last words he spoke before he went into an epileptic seizure.'... 'I had no idea Dennis was gay until he told me he had AIDS,' Marilyn Coi says. 'I was angry for a while, about who he got [the virus] from, but now I don't want to know. It could have been anybody. I've learned to accept gays as human beings.'... [Shaun] McGill's mother, Kathy, hopes the legacy of the dead champions will shine brightly through the years. 'When people think of Shaun and Brian and Bob and Dennis, I hope they forget AIDS and remember them for what they did for skating and for other people,' she says. 'They never did anything to make us ashamed. We're very proud of them.'"
*Source for inclusion: The Canadian AIDS Memorial Quilt
