Spotlight On: Team Hoyt and Love

This is an extraordinary story about the love of a father and a son. After you read about Dick and Rick Hoyt and view the video, I am sure that you will be inspired by, not only the love between them, but also their courage, determination and sheer endurance.

The Father and Son Team

Born in 1962, Rick Hoyt of Winchester, MA suffered from brain damage caused by the umbilical cord coiling around his neck cutting off oxygen to his brain. He was left with the inability to move his limbs and unable to speak. When doctors told Dick and Judy, Rick’s parents, that their son should be institutionalized because of his vegetative state, they were not convinced. They noticed how their son’s eyes followed them around the room.

When Rick was 11, his father took him to the engineering department at Tufts University. Dick asked if there was anything that they could do to help his son communicate. They firmly said that they couldn’t help and that there was no activity in his son’s brain. But Dick requested that they tell his son a joke and when they did, Rick laughed.

This convinced a group of engineers, using $5,000 that the family had raised, to create an interactive computer where Rick could control a cursor that moved across a screen filled with rows of letters. When the cursor highlighted the letter Rick wanted, he used his head to trigger a switch, which selected the letter. His first words were, “Go Bruins!”  Rick’s love of sports was clear.

During Rick’s high school years, he had a classmate who became paralyzed from a car accident. The school organized a five-mile benefit run for the student and Rick piped up and said to his father, “Dad, I want to do that!”

His father, although admittedly was not a runner and ran a mile maybe a few times a week to keep his weight down, took on the challenge and pushed his son in a wheelchair for five miles. They finished next to last. That night Rick said to his father, “When we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!”

These words forever changed Dick and set him on a life-long mission of giving his son that feeling of not being disabled. “Team Hoyt” began.

Their first goal was to run in the 1979 Boston Marathon, but they met up with much resistance from race officials. They persevered and when the father and son team finished in the top quarter of the field in the 1981 Boston Marathon, attitudes toward them began to change. 

After four years of marathons, they entered their first triathlon. Dick Hoyt pushed his son in a wheelchair, towed him in a dingy while swimming and pedaled him in a seat on a specially-made bike. This was the start of many triathlons to come.

Since 1979 to January 31, 2008, the father and son team have participated in a total of 958 events including 224 Triathlons, 6 Ironman distances, 5 Half Ironman, 20 Duathlons, 65 Marathons, and 25 Boston Marathons to name some. Their best time in a marathon was 2 hours and 40 minutes, just 35 minutes from the world record! And in 1992, they biked and ran across the USA with a total of 3,735 miles in 45 consecutive days, a remarkable feat! 

If Dick and Rick could give any words of wisdom, it would be to follow the Team Hoyt motto, which is “YES YOU CAN.” Can’t is not a word in the Team Hoyt vocabulary.

To appreciate this beautiful story about love, please view the “I Can Only Imagine” video courtesy of YouTube by clicking on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uulmhtAeGI

About the Hoyt Foundation Inc.

According to the Team Hoyt website, the goal of the Hoyt Foundation Inc. is to integrate the physically challenged into everyday life. One way to accomplish this is to educate the able-bodied, making them more aware of the issues that the disabled face every day. Another is by actively helping the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. The Hoyt Foundation Inc. targets both of these areas.

To learn more about the Team Hoyt story and to see more pictures, please visit their website at www.teamhoyt.com.

Note from the Editor:  When I first watched this video, I had no idea what was to come. I couldn’t help but cry. I was so moved and inspired by the commitment and determination of Dick Hoyt to give his son the feeling of not being disabled.  There are so many virtues that this story illustrates, but the most prevalent of all is the love between them. Thank you to the Hoyt’s for showing us that when you practice virtues, you truly become an inspiration to all!

Sources:  inspirationpeak.com; teamhoyt.com; and youtube.com.  Also, the song in the video is called “I Can Only Imagine,” performed by Mercy Me. The “I Can Only Imagine” DVD, along with other DVDs, is available for purchase at www.teamhoyt.com.