Write On Sports LLC - "Team Hoyt: What Sports Are All About" by Troy Somero

Team Hoyt: What Sports Are All About

2007-06-28 11:15:36 | By: Troy Somero

Being a die-hard sports fan for as long as I can remember, it is often difficult for me to adequately vocalize just how much sports mean to me. They serve as entertainment, inspiration and an escape from the daily stresses of work and life. However, it is deeds, not words, which serve as a great descriptor of the special power that sports have over the lives of so many people. No two people are more emblematic of this special significance of sports than Dick and Rick Hoyt.

When Rick Hoyt was born in 1962, his umbilical cord coiled around his neck and cut off the flow of oxygen to his brain. As a result of this tragedy, doctors told Rick's father and mother - Dick and Judy - that Rick would never walk or talk. He was doomed to be a vegetable from the moment of his birth.

Despite these fateful words, the Hoyts were determined to raise Rick as a normal child. Teachers were apprehensive to include Rick in public school, but his parents believed that he was as able-minded as any other child his age and worked tirelessly to gain him admittance. They also believed that Rick was able to communicate in his own unique way. In 1972, a group of Tufts engineers created an interactive computer that allowed Rick to vocalize his thoughts. Rick's first words were, "Go Bruins". The Bruins had made the Stanley Cup Finals that year and as it turned out Rick was a huge fan.

While he portrayed his affection for sports as soon as he could speak, Rick's true passion for competition came to fruition when he saw a flyer in school for a five-mile race benefiting another student who had been paralyzed in a lacrosse accident. Rick told his father, who had never run more than one mile in his life, that he wanted to participate in the race. Rick and Dick completed the race together, and spawned an inspirational journey that has lasted since 1975. "Rick told us he just didn't feel handicapped when we were competing," said Dick, and this ability to give his son physical freedom for an hour-long race was enough to drive Team Hoyt beyond anyone's expectations.

By 1981, Dick (a man who was previously out-of-shape and overweight) and Rick (a child who was destined for a life of vegetation) had competed in hundreds of road races. After one race, another distance athlete noticed the incredible shape Dick was in and mentioned that Dick should try challenging himself with a triathlon. Dick was up for the challenge, but only if he could complete the event with Rick.

Up for the new challenge, Dick had to teach himself how to swim. At the time, he could barely tread water. Then, Dick had to learn how to swim 2.4miles while pulling a raft supporting his 80-pound son. Then, Dick had to re-teach himself to ride a bike, something he had not done since he was a child. *Then,* Dick had to teach himself to ride an extra-long bike 112 miles with an 80-pound person in a handlebar seat. Motivated by the Dick's love for Rick and Rick's passion for competition, Team Hoyt completed its first triathlon in 1985, appropriately enough on Father's Day.

Those two simple first words that Rick spoke in 1972 not only spawned the Hoyt's quarter-century-long love of competition and athletics, but they also saved Dick's life. Dick had a heart attack over a decade ago, and doctors told him that if it was not for the fact that he was in peak physical shape for his age, he likely would have died. Thus, the father-son bond has been truly symbiotic. Rick needs his father to experience the sense of sports competition that he has loved since he was a child, and Dick needs his son's motivation to maintain his health and drive for competition after all of these years.

As amazing as the Hoyt's story is in the realm of sports, Rick's other accomplishments in life are equally amazing. In 1993, Rick became the first muted person to ever graduate from Boston University, where he received a degree in (appropriately enough) special education. Undoubtedly, Rick is likely the only muted BU alum to ever compete in the Ironman Triathlon. In addition, despite his debilitating life situation, Rick lives by himself a few miles away from his father, accompanied by daily visits from specialists. A man who was told he had no chance of a normal existence at an early age is now a college graduate who competes in triathlons and lives in his own home.

Perhaps the most impressive attribute of Team Hoyt is its selflessness. Dick compete largely due to the amount of inspiration they instill in so many other parents and children who face similar struggles. Dick says he is impressed with the reactions he and Rick still inspire from so many people: "Some people have turned out, some in good shape, some really out of shape, and they say 'we want to thank you, because we're here because of you'."

The story of Dick and Rick Hoyt is emblematic of why sports are so special to so many people: sports sever to intertwine the human spirit. Every child that has thrown a baseball, or swung a golf club, or punted a football has done so because another human being put that baseball, golf club, or football in that child's hands. Many of the best moments of my life have revolved around sports: growing up watching basketball with my father, attending a baseball game with friends, playing 18 on a Sunday with my parents. Sports serve to bring unique people together and inspire them to do things collectively that they otherwise could not or would not do. The story of Dick and Rick Hoyt is so special because everyone can apply it to daily life. Running that extra mile, skiing down that black diamond, and swimming that final lap are all doable, whether you are born sick or healthy. Thanks to Team Hoyt for proving the power of sports to all those people that doubt it.

Comments

T-Bing commented,
such an inspiration..
August 26, 2007 11:50 p.m.

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