Alex Messina

Alessandro Vincenzo Arturo “Alex” Messina was born in Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia) in 1941. After the end of World War II Messina’s family moved to Venezia where they spent two years in a displaced person’s camp. In 1951 the family moved to Canada and settled in Windsor, Ontario. When Messina was 13 he dropped out of school and began work as a bicycle delivery boy, which ultimately led him to road cycling. In 1960 he won the Canadian Road Amateur Championship and was named on the Canadian cycling team for the Roma Olympics where he competed in the road race.

After the Olympics Messina became a mechanical designer, going on to work on multiple projects including one on the CN Tower in Toronto. Just a few months before he died he completed his autobiography entitled No Complaints, Just the Facts.