Terry Casey (ice hockey)

Casey was star player in Great Falls, joining the local senior amateur team when he was a freshman in high school. Though he was undersized, Casey was a fast skater and had an ability to avoid others on the ice. After graduating in 1962 he began attending the University of North Dakota and played on the freshman team while the varsity club won a national championship. His turn came the following year but Casey had a little difficulty adjusting to college hockey. He seemed to have things figured out in his junior year, however, and tied for the team lead in goals as the Fighting Sioux posted 25 wins and finished 3rd in the NCAA Tournament.

Casey was named team captain for his senior season and led the team in scoring, finishing tied for fourth in the nation with 54 points. He was named to the All-WCHA First Team and was an All-American. UND finished second in the conference but were stymied in the second round by Denver and missed a chance to return to the national tournament.

After graduating, Casey joined the US National Team for the 1967 Ice Hockey World Championships and scored two goals for the 5th-place team.[3] The result ensured the US a spot in the 1968 Winter Olympics and shortly after the '67 championships Casey was named to the Olympic roster.

That summer Casey was heading to a softball tournament in Plentywood when the car he was traveling in crossed the center divide and struck another vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. Casey, as well as fellow passengers Bob Fairfull and Danny Ryan were killed while driver John Evankovich survived. All men were from Great Falls. The driver of the other car, Alice Riley, survived along with her four children, but two of her passengers, William Strowbridge and his wife Bonnie, were also killed. An investigation reveled that the speedometer from Riley's car read 43 MPH while Evankovich's, which had been thrown more than 100 away from the car, read 90. Evankovich was given a 2-year deferred sentence that December after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter. Almost two years later the widows of the three men filed a $2.25 million lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company for making a car with faulty power steering. The case was settled in 1971 with the plaintiffs being awarded approximately $300,000 by a district court. According to a witness at the trial, the speed of Evankovich's 1967 Ford Galaxie was never brought up.[2]

After his death, North Dakota retired Casey's #12 and has never issued the number to another player. In 2011 the Fighting Sioux raised a banner to the roof with Casey's number, becoming only the second player in the history of the program to receive that honor.[4]

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database