Travis Roy, a Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed 11 seconds into his first college shift and went on to become an advocate for spinal cord injury survivors, died Oct. 29 at a hospital in Vermont. He was 45.
Mr. Roy was a 20-year-old freshman making his debut for the reigning NCAA champions in the 1995-96 season opener when he crashed headfirst into the boards after checking a North Dakota opponent.
The incident left him a quadriplegic.
From his wheelchair, Mr. Roy gave as many as 40 motivational speeches a year. The message he shared: Do the best with what you have and don’t dwell on your misfortune.
“I like to say the first 20 years I had a life that was full of passion and the last 20 I’ve had a life full of purpose,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press shortly after turning 40. “The dream is to have both at the same time, but I’m fortunate. I’ll take either one.”
Since he created the Travis Roy Foundation in 1997, it has raised more than $9 million — half for research and half to provide equipment for those with spinal cord injuries. Mr. Roy, who was able to control the joystick that maneuvered his chair, regained little movement after the injury and had no feeling below the middle of his chest.
“I just thought the research would move along and by the time I was 40 I might have a chance of some normalcy again, some kids and a wife and not living with 24-hour home care anymore,” he told the AP in 2015.
Former Bruins star and current team president Cam Neely also shared his condolences.
“Travis Roy was the ultimate symbol of determination and courage,” Neely said. “The impact that Travis had on the New England hockey community is immeasurable, and his relentless advocacy for spinal cord research was inspiring.”
The son of a Maine hockey rink manager who began skating when he was 20 months old, Mr. Roy went to private schools before enrolling at BU, which retired his No. 24 in 1999.
He graduated from the school with a degree in communications in 2000.
He said he occasionally thought about what might have happened if he hadn’t been injured.
“There’s times when it’s kind of fun to think about it,” he said. “It’s also kind of sad to not know the answer.”
Among the players on the 1995-96 BU Terriers team were future NHL players Chris Drury, Jay Pandolfo, Shawn Bates and Mike Grier. John Hynes is now the coach of the Nashville Predators. Coach Jack Parker is an inductee in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame; Olympic hero Mike Eruzione was an assistant coach.
“It’s so sad for so many reasons — not just the athletic end of it, but what his life could have been,” Eruzione told the AP on Thursday night. “To see a life changed in such a direction because of 11 seconds.
“But what he did with it afterward was incredible,” Eruzione said. “Such an inspiration.”
— Associated Press
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