Sam Ferris was born in Magherabeg, near Dromore, County Down. He moved to Glasgow, but returned to Dromore as a young man. At the age of seventeen, he joined the Shelteston Carriers, a running club. A year later he joined the Royal Air Force and was posted to India. After the war he returned to Dromore and took up running. IN 1923 he rejoined the Royal Air Force and was stationed at Uxbridge, where he began to take long distance running seriously. In 1924 he finished second in the Olympic Marathon, and won a silver medal. In 1930 he was runner-up in the first Empire Games. As a warrant officer in the Royal Air Force he served in stations throughout the world, and in Dieppe in 1940 was the officer in charge of evacuation. He is remembered in Dromore by a race held each year.

Born:	1900
Died:	1980