Edward Richard Terry (4 June 1904 – 5 March 1967) was an outstanding all-round Tasmanian schoolboy athlete.

In his prime as an athlete, "Mick" Terry was not only a fine sprinter and middle-distance runner, he was also the champion axeman of the Australian Commonwealth,[6] and he held a number of world records for the 12-in, 15-in, and 18-in standing blocks.

He excelled at track and field athletics, cricket, football, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, rowing, and handball.

[14] Handball is one of the best ways for a potential Australian Rules footballer to acquire the optimum level of hand–eye coordination, ambidexterity, smoothness and flexibility, and sense of where one is in time and space (e.g., Bill Serong who played in three Grand Finals for Collingwood, went to the Christian Brothers' College in Victoria Parade, and was the Australian handball champion in 1974, aged 38).

[17] On Saturday 15 April 1922, Terry was beaten in the final of the Associated Schools Tennis Singles' Championship.

[20] He was the first St Virgil's batsman to score a century, which he did in 34 minutes against the attack of Arthur Owen Burrows (1903–1984) — who would later bowl in tandem with Laurie Nash for Tasmania – and Alan Bispham "Block" Brownell (1904–1981), two of the best bowlers that Tasmania has ever produced; and, in his last year at St Virgil's, he topped the school's batting and bowling averages.

He was stroke of the school's crew in the Head of the River (this would usually indicate that he was the best oarsman); and, in October 1921, he weighed 10 st 13 lbs (69.5 kg).

[26] Despite Terry's outstanding individual success, St. Virgil's did not win the carnival; and, as a consequence, he was not permitted to compete at the Tasmanian State Secondary School Championships, because it was set up to be a competition between the best southern and the best northern school, rather than between the best southern athletes and the best northern athletes.

[27] On 1 April 1922, Terry took part in the Tasmanian Amateur Athletics Association's Annual Track Championships that were held at the Cricket Ground.

[31] Noting that Terry had been greatly overworked at the championships, and had attempted far too much at such a meeting for such a young man,[32] The Mercury's athletics correspondent asserted that "If I am any judge, I think Terry the best prospect in Tasmania" and, obviously aware of his family's connexions with professional foot-running, expressed a fervent hope that he would not be lost to the professionals.

[35] On 6 April 1923, he won the 100 yards at St Virgil's College's Annual Sports; it was the only event in which he competed.

[37] On 18 April, he came second, "by inches", in the Open 100 yards at the Southern Tasmanian Associated Schools' Athletics Carnival.

On the verge of his selection for the first match of the season, Terry was described as a schoolboy champion, who had given sufficient proof of his ability for senior distinction, and of whom good things were expected.

[45] Three months into his first season, football writers were describing him as "fast and clever" and speaking of him in the same breath as his legendary teammate, the champion rover Horrie Gorringe.

[46] He sustained a serious injury (a twisted knee) whilst playing school football for St Virgil's against Hutchins on Saturday, 26 August.

Based in Pyengana, on Tasmania's east coast, he was listed as being trained by his father, Mr. E. Terry (who is an "old hand" in Tasmanian athletics).

In early 1929, St Kilda was very interested in the skilled and speedy Terry,[60] and were expecting to play him as either a rover or on the wing.

[66] The clearance from the TFL finally arrived in Melbourne, and he was granted a permit by the VFL to play on Wednesday, 8 May,[67] just in time for him to be picked on the wing for the match against Geelong, in Round 3 of 1929, on Saturday 11 May 1929, at the Junction Oval, four weeks before his 25th birthday.

[68] On that same day, another Tasmanian and former Cananore player, Alan Scott, four years older than Terry, also made his debut for St Kilda.

Terry sustained a serious thigh injury during a torrid game;[70] and, although the content of the match reports are intentionally somewhat vague, it would seem that he was deliberately maimed, rather than accidentally injured.

Without playing another senior game, he was transferred, by St Kilda, to the Association club Prahran, on 26 June 1929.

[82] He won the 1938 Men's Reserve "B" Grade Singles final in the Southern Tasmanian Lawn Tennis Association's Summer Tournament.

[84] In January 1939, he took part in the Southern Tasmanian Lawn Tennis Association's Summer Tournament, winning his match in the first round of the Men's Open Singles, and losing in the second.

[86] During World War II he saw active service in the Royal Australian Air Force from 1941 to 1945 as a transport driver, serving for some time in New Guinea.