father-son dynamic duo

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Communication Marvel

The Hoyts turned to Tufts University, where engineers were doubtful. Sure, they could design and build a machine that would allow Rick to communicate using the minor head movements he could control, but would he know how to talk, let alone spell words?

“Tell him a joke,” Dick says he told the engineers. “They did, and Rick cracked up laughing.”

That was all the engineers needed. They went to work and built Rick’s “communicator.” It includes a trigger—controlled by Rick’s head movements—that scrolls a cursor over rows of letters. One letter at a time, Rick could now spell words and write sentences. His first words—“Go Bruins!”—were a cheer for the hometown hockey team. With the help of the keyboard, he also began sharing his feelings. When he showed he could respond to questions, he was given the go-ahead to attend school.

Off to a Rolling Start
It was an announcement at school in 1979 that changed Rick and Dick’s lives. One of the school’s lacrosse players had been paralyzed, and the school planned a 5-mile charity race.

“Rick wanted to participate,” Dick says. “He told me, ‘Dad, we have to let him know that life goes on.’”

Dick hadn’t run a race in years and was a bit overweight and out of shape. But his son’s enthusiasm was contagious. So, with Rick in a standard (and heavy) wheelchair and number 00 on their backs, the duo took off on the 5-mile run.

“I had a hard time pushing and so many muscles hurt, I could barely walk afterward,” Dick says with a laugh. “But we didn’t finish last—and we haven’t finished last in any of our 950 races.”

After that race, Rick told his father that the running made him feel as if his disabilities had disappeared. That was all Dick needed to hear. The Hoyts had a custom running chair built for Rick and the pair began entering 10K races. They haven’t stopped running since.