He has barely been able to outlive his father by two years. Without him, neither life nor athletics were the same.
Rick Hoyt, a quadriplegic athlete with cerebral palsy, died this Monday at the age of 61 due to complications in his respiratory system. In March 2021, he died in Padre Dick, participating with him in more than 1.000 races, including several 'Ironman' events and more than one edition of the Boston Marathon. Together they made up 'Team Hoyt', emblem of popular races in the United States. A couple who knew how to earn the respect and recognition of their sport for their perseverance and pride.
"As many know, Rick and his father, Dick, were icons of road running and triathlons for forty years, inspiring millions of people with disabilities to believe in themselves," the Hoyt Foundation statement explained.
Rick was born in 1962 with quadriplegia and cerebral palsy because the umbilical cord got caught in the neck and cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain. There was no hope for him, but together with his wife Judy, also deceased, Dick insisted on giving his son as normal an education as possible. This retired military man worked with him and educated him at home until he was admitted to public school in 1975, at age 13. Over the years he, too, earned a position at Boston University and graduated with a degree in Special Education. “Rick was also a pioneer in education. His mother changed the laws that allowed her son to be educated with people without disabilities.
As a teenager, through the interactive computer through the communication channel, Rick asked him to know how to participate in a race benefiting 5 thousand. Dick completed that first race pushing his son's wheelchair, who at the end told him a phrase that would change their lives: "Dad, when I'm running, I feel like I'm not disabled."
From that day on, he participated in all kinds of athletic competitions, including duathlons and triathlons. They made the Boston Marathon their fetish competition, and in fact their 2009 edition became their joint race number 1.000.
They were also the first couple to finish an Ironman, the toughest test in the world: (53.86 kilometers swimming, 42.1 running and 180 on a bicycle). In the water, Dick was dragging a small boat on a rope in which he was putting his son.
Just this Saturday he had to compete in the 'Yes you can' popular race, organized by the Hoyt Foundation in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The family has yet to say whether to postpone the trial or maintenance in honor of Rick and Dick.
