World's Strongest Dad (grab the Kleenex) (Read 1008 times)

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly] I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck. Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day. Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right? And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life. This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs. "He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.'' But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.'' "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.'' Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. ``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year. Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think? Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together. This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time. ``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.'' And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life. Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. ``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.'' And the video is below.... click

That was beautiful, Zoom. Thank you. The next time I hear a knucklehead wonder why we celebrate "mediocre" participation, rather than insisting on Olympic medals or nothing ... maybe I'll just point to this thread.

I've had the privilege of meeting the Hoyts a few times and to see them at countless races around New England. They are two of the great characters that make up the big, beautiful, ridiculous amalgam that we call the New England running scene. Like Louise Rosetti, and the late Steve Burton and many, many, many other excellent people, when you see them at a race you have to smile and feel thankful to be part of such a great sport. And of course as impressive as Dick is as an athlete, it pales compared to what he is as a dad. I passed the Hoyts in the Newton Hills at the 2002 Boston Marathon and--let me tell you--when you're starting to feel sorry for yourself because you can see the marathon dream you've been cultivating for many long months start to slip through your fingers and you suddenly come across a guy old enough to be your father pushing his grown son in a wheel chair up a big hill at the 20-mile mark of a marathon, it kind of changes your perspective on things.

i saw a tv special about them...you can see it in their faces how happy the hoyt's are when they are running or doing the marathon...its just amazing what people can do for somebody they love...and its amazing what sports can do to lift people's spirits...

I had the honor to do a triathlon with them a few years back. I remember seeing him swimming and pulling the inflatable raft behind him. I exited teh water right behind them and didnt see them again - because he was way faster than me and was probably on his way home by the time I finished the race. It was truly an amazing site to see him carrying his son up a flight of steps to the bike transition. I was tired pulling just my own body weight. I can only hope that my kids look up to me half as much as his son looks up to him.

Here is a good Team Hoyt story: In Norfolk, CHKD (Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter) puts on an annual 8K. Team Hoyt wanted to participate, but the rules stated "no strollers/baby joggers". The asked for a waiver, but the lawyers denied it. Finally someone said, "Look, we are a children's hospital , we will find a way to let them run." I heard this story post race from someone who works there. It was awesome seeing them run with those kids. One of the wheelchairs got a flat tire, but the guy just tilted it on its 2 good wheels and kept going.

Thanks for sharing, I met Dick and rick this past winter and I am running VB with them on Labor day weekend. Nice people. Doug.

Dick and Rick are awesome, but I just have one question: How was it physically and humanly possible for Dick to push Rick to a 2:40 marathon? Seriously? Thats a 6:07 mile! Thats a 19min 5k! I can barely run a 5k that fast, and I'm ~20 years younger than Dick was at the time. Anyone have any physiological insight into this? I almost wonder with Boston being a mostly downhill course that Dick can "hop on" (so to speak) or hitch a ride, on Rick's pushcart/wheelchair for portions of the course? Obviously he has to push up the Newton hills, but is he able to "coast" the rest of the way? Don't take this as if I'm accusing them of cheating, what they did is amazing, but I just cant comprehend that speed!