Dick Hoyt, who inspired thousands of runners, parents and athletes with disabilities by pushing his son, Rick, in a wheelchair in dozens of Boston marathons and hundreds of other races, died, a family member said on Wednesday.
He was 80 years old.
Dick passed away calmly while sleeping at his home in Holland, Massachusetts, on Wednesday morning, Russ Hoyt, another of his sons, told the Associated Press.
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“He had an ongoing heart problem that he had been struggling with for years, and that got the better of him,” said Russ Hoyt.
Russ and his other brother, Rob, broke the news to Rick.
“He’s sad, like all of us, but he’s fine,” said Russ. “I could see it, it was like someone had hit him.”
Dick Hoyt first pushed his son, who is a quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy, in the Boston Marathon in 1980. Dick and Rick, in a specialized wheelchair, completed 32 Boston Marathons together, until Dick, citing health problems , retired in 2014. He had planned to retire after the 2013 race, but the father and son never finished because of the bombing at the finish line that year, so they came back again.
The Boston Athletic Association, which runs the marathon, called Hoyt a legend.
“BAA is tremendously saddened to learn of the passing away of Boston Marathon icon Dick Hoyt,” the organization said in a statement. “Dick personified what it meant to be a Boston Marathoner, showing determination, passion and love in every Patriots Day for more than three decades. He was not only the fan favorite that inspired thousands, but also a loyal friend and father who became he prided himself on having a good time with his son Rick as he ran from Hopkinton to Boston. “
Dick served as Grand Marshal of the 2015 race in recognition of his achievements.
And even though his father stopped, Rick did not. Bryan Lyons, a dentist, took charge of Rick from 2015 until his unexpected death last June at the age of 50.
The 1980 Boston Marathon was not the Hoyts’ first street race.
In 1977, Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a charity race for a lacrosse player who was paralyzed. They ended in penultimate, but that was just the beginning.
“Dad, when I’m running, it looks like I’m not disabled,” Rick told his father after the first race, according to the website of Team Hoyt, a charity the family has established to help athletes with disabilities.
They participated in more than 1,000 races, including duatlons and triathlons, and in 1992 they even completed a race and bicycle across the United States, covering 3,735 miles (6,010 kilometers) in 45 days, according to the website.
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In 2013, a statue of a father and son was erected in front of a school in Hopkinton, near the Boston Marathon starting line.
“I know it’s a cliché, but I want people to know that I thought my dad was a hero, not just because he pushed Rick into the marathon, but because he was a great dad to all of us that you could talk to about any thing, “he said. “He inspired people to look at all of their children as equals, regardless of their disability.”
Preparations for the funeral are pending.