Travis Roy’s hockey career came to a devastating end only 11 seconds into his first shift for Boston University, but the Maine native would leave an indelible mark on the world for the way he faced his daunting obstacles and strove to make the world a better place, especially for those in similar predicaments.
The hockey community mourned the loss of the philanthropist and inspirational speaker Roy, who died Thursday at the age of 45, 25 years after he was left a quadriplegic after crashing into the end boards at Walter Brown Arena in the Terriers’ season opener on Oct. 20, 1995 against North Dakota on a night that the Terriers were raising the banner for the NCAA championship they’d won the previous April.
According to BU, Roy died due to complications from his condition.
While his hockey career was cruelly cut short before it barely even began, Roy would establish the Travis Roy Foundation just a year after he was paralyzed from the neck down. Over the years, the Foundation has helped more than 2,100 quadriplegics and paraplegics and awarded nearly $5 million in grants toward spinal cord research.
Dan Ronan was part of Roy’s freshman class at BU and remained close with him ever since, serving as a trustee with the Foundation. He was aware that Roy always had to be mindful of his immune system, careful not to get pneumonia or the flu.
“But it was just 25 years in the chair and his body had to go in for some fine-tuning and his body just couldn’t handle it any longer,” said Ronan on Thursday night. “He is the most selfless person I have ever met. He was like the big guy in that movie ‘The Green Mile.’ He had a way of making people feel good about themselves and almost taking their pain away from them. He was the guy sitting in the wheelchair and you’d talk to him and somehow you’d walk away feeling better. He just had a profound impact on people across the country and into Canada.
“And the amount of people that he and the Foundation helped with the grants and the little things that he did that people didn’t know about, the amount of families he’d talked to, someone who was newly paralyzed, or how he’d quietly go about his business going over to Spaulding (Rehabilitation Center) to see the families, counsel them and say hi to someone who was in a new scary situation, it was just amazing. Again, this is where he would take all this pain, like the character in the movie, he took it off people and put smiles on their faces. And he made people feel comfortable around him when they didn’t know what to do. He was amazing, just absolutely amazing. And people that knew Travis knew that.”
Brendan Walsh was also in Roy’s freshman class at BU and remembers what an athlete he was. He remembers in a five-mile training run at the track at Nickerson Field and Roy lapping him.
“He was a gazelle. You never heard his feet touch the ground. And it tore me up,” said Walsh with a chuckle.
Walsh, a Dorchester kid with a competitive streak a mile wide, remembers going up against Roy in a preseason practice battle drill. He thought this might be his chance to give it back to the nice kid from Maine. It didn’t work out as Walsh planned.
“I rode him hard,” said Walsh. “And he battled back, he elbowed me and spun my helmet around on a reverse check. (Coach Jack Parker) let the drill run out and at the end of it, Jack just gave me a look that kind of said ‘Yeah, now you know why I got him’.”
It was that kind of drive that may have prepared him for the challenges Roy would soon face, if anything could prepare him.
“It’s incredible how he was able to take such negativity that might make someone else spiral down and turn it into such a positive, but it speaks to his internal drive and internal focus,” said Walsh.
After such an extraordinary life, Roy’s untimely death left worldwide hockey community reeling, especially here in Boston.
“His story is the epitome of inspiration and courage, and he was a role model and a hero to so many people,” read a statement from BU Athletics. “Travis’ work and dedication towards helping fellow spinal cord-injury survivors is nothing short of amazing. His legacy will last forever, not just within the Boston University community, but with the countless lives he has impacted across the country. Our sincere thoughts are with his wonderful family as well as his vast support group of friends and colleagues.”
In a statement from Bruins, team president Cam Neely said, “Travis Roy was the ultimate symbol of determination and courage. The impact that Travis had on the New England hockey community is immeasurable, and his relentless advocacy for spinal cord research was inspiring.”
Ronan was clearly gutted by the news, but was happy at least to receive countless affirmations of just how much Roy’s life and work meant to people.
“The hockey community is just a special place,” said Ronan. “I’m getting calls and I don’t even recognize the numbers, but it’s guys from BC, BU, Northeastern and Harvard and all these guys that I played against. And Travis is the hockey community. Everyone my age kind of feels a part of him and feels a part of the story. That part is awesome, that all these people cared about him in some way, shape or form.”
