From 1935 to 1954, Eric Coy was a mainstay on the Canadian track-and-field scene. He won his first Canadian Championship in javelin in 1935. He won gold in the discus at the 1938 British Commonwealth Games, setting a record that held for 16 years. At the Canadian championships that same year he won the shot put and javelin events. He continued to set and break his own records year after year. Coy was awarded the Norton H. Crowe Trophy as Canada's outstanding amateur athlete of 1938 and was runner-up for the Lou Marsh Trophy given to both professional and amateur athletes. Coy won the grand aggregate athletic competition on eight different occasions at the Scottish Games. He competed in snowshoe racing to compliment his track-and-field training and set numerous Canadian, world, and international records from 1933-1940. Specializing in the 100-yard and 220-yard sprints, he was undefeated for a period of three years in the 1930s. In 1941, Coy joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and won several track and field honours during armed services competition. After the war, Coy resumed his track and field career, and at the Olympic trials he established new Canadian records in the discus and shot put. For this reason, he was selected captain of the track and field section to the Canadian team at the 1948 Olympics in London. Even though Coy was an all-round athlete and competed in several sports-fastball, badminton, handball, squash, hockey, and football-he retired from competition to become a full-time businessman. He continued officiating, coaching, and lending his expertise to skilled athletes coming into their own. On his death in 1985, the Eric E. Coy Memorial Trophy was donated by Mrs. Helen Coy in memory of her late husband as a means of honouring outstanding athletes in the throwing events.