This is a digital reprint of an article we prepared for the Tri Gulf Coast Newsletter [April 2016] after Team Hoyt spoke locally at the Pensacola Sports Annual Banquet… RIP Dick Hoyt.
Recently Pensacola Sports, a TGC Sponsor, hosted the 62nd Annual Pensacola Sports Awards Banquet.Members from all area sports were represented at the event, including a number of athletes from Tri Gulf Coast in the audience. This evening praised those in our community who are taking their sports to the next level, from Special Olympic athlete Janis McGowan to GBHS athlete, Tori Bindi. The event also included honors for professional athlete Doug Baldwin, wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks. The awards ended with a focus on Hall of Fame inductees: Charles Gheen, Mike Killam, Fred Robbins, and Tim Bryant, and the James Currie Volunteer of the year, Michael Capps.
Upon the conclusion of the awards a very special athletic team was introduced- Dick and Rick Hoyt. The father-son team has been racing since the spring of 1977, when Rick, then 15, told his father he wanted to race in a local 5 mile run to benefit a student who had recently become paralyzed. Rick’s father, Dick, agreed to the race cautiously worried as he was not a runner. The father and son team would cross the finish line that day with Dick just steps behind Rick. This would be the order in which the team would always cross the finish line. Dick would remain these few steps behind as he would be pushing Rick’s wheelchair across the finish line.At the time of Rick’s birth he was oxygen deprived leading to his diagnosis as a spastic quadriplegic with Cerebral Palsy. The family was told Rick would never have a “normal” life. At that point the Hoyt family set forth on a journey to ensure Rick was included in the community, sports, and educational events. The family quickly found out that Rick was cognitively aware and very “normal”. The Hoyts would teach Rick communication skills and eventually would work with engineers on a communication system for Rick and others like him.
Dick is a retired Lt. Colonel. He served in the Air National Guard for 3 years. Rick is a graduate from Boston University with studies in Special Education.
As for his running career that too would grow and change. The Hoyts worked,again, with a team of engineers on designing a better wheelchair to push Rick during races. The father-son team went from a 5 mile race to racing in marathons, duathlons, and triathlons. Their races include finishes in the Boston Marathon and Ironman Kona. Team Hoyt has completed over 1120 races including 6 Ironmans, 7 Half Ironmans, 72 marathons, and 97 half marathons.Their track record, not only in the number of races but also in race times, is commendable. But what is often forgotten in the numbers is the purpose.
Dick Hoyt pushed his 15 year old son in a running race because Rick asked him, but he kept running because Rick expressed to him, “Dad,when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” Dick races with his son because in that moment his son is no longer trapped in his body which fails to listen to him; instead in that moment Rick is free from those confines. For many of us this is why we run, or bike, or swim: to free ourselves from the confines we experience – in our heads, in our bodies, in our emotions. Race after race one can see the joy in Rick’s face and the determination in Dick’s every move. The team moves together from start to finish, lifting each other and those who watch them.
Team Hoyt was a fabulous inspiration to close out an inspiring night as we turn our sights to our next triathlon season full of new goals, new races, and new accomplishments. Let us all remember one thing as we challenge the world— YES YOU CAN!!!
