Terry McCann, 72; Olympic Gold Winner Headed Toastmasters

Terry McCann, 72, who won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1960 Rome Olympics, died Wednesday of mesothelioma, a rare cancer linked to asbestos exposure, U.S. States Olympic Committee chief executive Jim Scherr said.

McCann, of Dana Point later became executive director of Toastmasters International, a Rancho Santa Margarita nonprofit organization that trains its members in public speaking.

While training for the Olympics, McCann worked at an oil refinery in Tulsa, Okla., where he came in contact with asbestos. Last year, he joined a class-action lawsuit against asbestos manufacturers.

McCann started wrestling as a youth in Chicago and went on to the University of Iowa, where he lost only three matches in three years and twice was national champion.

After the Olympics, he helped create the U.S. Wrestling Federation, which became U.S. Wrestling, the national amateur governing body.

An avid surfer, McCann was president of the Surfrider Foundation from 1993 to 1997.