Ricky Hoyt rides in his custom bicycle seat as his father, Rick, pedals on East Main Street in 1992. (Photo ©1992 Carl E. Hartdegen)
HOPKINTON – One of Westfield’s greatest father-son duos is set to begin two races within the coming weeks, one being the Boston Marathon and the other for posterity.
Dick and Rick Hoyt, now of Holland, are being honored today with a bronze statue sculpted by Texas sculptor Mike Tabor, which will be placed in front of the Hopkinton Center School, just a few yards from the traditional start line for one of the country’s most beloved athletic events.
Now 72 and 50 respectively, Dick and Rick will then run their 31st marathon together on the 15th, a mark made all the more impressive by the circumstances of two of the most inspiring runners in America.
Since birth, Rick has been stricken with Cerebral Palsy. However, it hasn’t been able to keep him down. At the age of 15, Rick asked his father to push him in a 5-mile road race in their hometown of Westfield. His father obliged and they’ve been outrunning Rick’s condition, and the competition, ever since.
Having been featured in such national outlets as Sports Illustrated, 60 Minutes, Runner’s World and even Esquire, Team Hoyt, as they are known in the running world, has competed in well over 1,000 endurance events, including marathons, in which Dick pushes Rick’s wheelchair while running, and triathlons, where Dick pushes Rick while running, pulls him on a specially made boat while swimming, and shares a tandem bicycle with his son during the cycling portion.
As if all of this wasn’t enough to merit a statue in their honor, Dick, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, and his son completed a cross country excursion to end all cross country excursions in 1992, running and biking 3,735 miles in 45 days.
The next year, Rick, a spastic quadriplegic who doctors believed would need to be institutionalized at birth, graduated from Boston University with a degree in Special Education, and would began work at Boston College in a computer lab developing communication software to assist others with physical disabilities.
A permanent statue at the start of the Boston Marathon seems fitting, especially taking into account what that spot has meant to participants of the marathon. For years, the location where the Hoyt’s legacy will now be immortalized has been a congregating ground for the event’s wheelchair-bound athletes, many of whom were influenced and inspired by the father-son duo, whose legend was born on the pavement of Westfield and will now live on in bronze in Hopkinton.
