There are a lot of banners hanging in Walter Brown Arena. Four championship banners, Final Four banners, Hockey East Championship banners, the Beanpot banner.
Yet there is only one banner holding a player’s name and number.
It’s not Chris Drury or Shawn McEachern. It’s not Jack O’Callahan or Mike Eruzione. It’s not Jack Parker.
It reads: Boston University, 24, Travis Roy.
In 1995, Roy was a highly regarded freshman out of Tabor Academy joining the defending national champion Terriers. In BU’s first game of the season against the University of North Dakota, Roy skated out for his first shift with the scarlet and white. Eleven seconds later, his career was over after he lost his balance trying to throw a check and went headfirst into the Walter Brown boards. He was instantly paralyzed.
Roy’s story was tragic and inspiring the story of a hard-working kid who achieved his dreams of playing for a Division I college team and then in an instant had it ripped away. The hockey community showered support on Roy during his recovery process, and he later wrote a book about the ordeal entitled ‘Eleven Seconds.’
It was the bravery and courage Roy showed in his fight against paralysis that earned him the right to see his No. 24 in the rafters. It was more than he had hoped for.
‘The one thing that I had told Coach Parker was, ‘Nobody’s ever going to know I played for BU,” Roy said. ‘The folklore will be there, but there will never be a statistic anywhere in any BU media guide that has me there as a player. I never had a goal. I never had an assist. I never had a penalty minute. I was in the lineup for one game and skated for 11 seconds.
‘I told Coach that it didn’t matter what it was, but I was kind of hoping that somebody would do something whether it was my name on the skate sharpener or on the stick rack or whatever just somewhere so that I am remembered as part of the BU family.
‘It’s the greatest feeling to go into Walter Brown and see it down there, and it’s also bittersweet,’ he continued. ‘On the flip side, I wish it never had to be retired, and I got to play out my career.’
Roy now works as a motivational speaker, going to high schools, prep schools and colleges to give his story. He also helps run the Travis Roy Foundation, which raises money for spinal cord research and aids those who have suffered as he has.
‘[The foundation raises money for] individual grants for people who need help with something like a voice-activated computer or the right wheelchair or any kind of adaptive technology that can help them get their life going after an accident,’ Roy said. ‘I’ve seen what the right care and the right adaptive technologies can do, so I’m just trying to provide opportunities for people who need help.’
Roy is also lobbying for a rehabilitation center much like the one he attended in Atlanta just after his accident to serve people in New England with spinal cord injuries.
Undoubtedly, the fame he received from his story has placed him in a position to help others who face similar challenges. Roy is up to making a difference for those people.
But all of the difference in the world doesn’t change the fact that Travis Roy hasn’t walked in eight years. Life is not easy for the 28-year old. He struggles with that at the same time as he rises above his injury.
‘There’s two sides. I’m just being me, I’m just doing the things that I’ve done all along, I’m not doing anything different than I would have done without my accident,’ Roy said. ‘I was always dedicated and disciplined and worked hard. Since then, it’s just not nearly as fun. There aren’t many real happy days. There are days that are better than others, but I like to think that there’s a higher purpose and that my life has bigger meaning and reason and I try to go with that and do my best.
‘As cliché as it is, I’m just trying to do my part for society and feel like I’m pulling my fair share as an active participant, and being proud of who I am and what I’m doing, and the only way you do that is to keep moving forward.’
Despite his accident, and the pain it has caused, Roy holds no grudge toward the sport.
‘I get to some BU games I was at the BU-BC game on Friday and I still enjoy hockey quite a bit and watching the Terriers,’ Roy said. ‘I’m very proud and I love being part of the BU hockey family. I think that’s probably one of my biggest regrets or disappointments as far as the last three years I haven’t been down there as much as I would have liked or different reasons. One, just physically getting there on cold nights.
‘I ran into a couple of players and a recruit at the Bruins game last night and it was nice that they said hello and came up and talked to me. I wish that I did still know the guys just a little bit. It doesn’t need to be real well, but at least [I could] kind of stop in more often so that they know who I am and I know who they are.’
While it seems highly unlikely that the BU hockey family will ever forget Travis Roy (for my money, Parker will never let that happen), it is just as important that the BU family, the college hockey family and people in general do not forget this courageous man. Much more than the athletes we see who simply accomplish great feats in the game, Travis Roy has achieved a transcendent greatness. He has worked to make a difference for himself and for others who suffer like him.
He hasn’t enjoyed it, but he hasn’t complained. Travis Roy might not think what he’s done and what he’s been through is all that heroic, or even worth remembering after all this time, but I think we can all still learn so much from the greatest Icedog of them all. And we can simply let him know how much we appreciate him.
‘The story the truth of the matter is it’s eight years old, and a lot of things have happened to me since then,’ Roy said. ‘But people have treated me so well and it’s neat to hear their stories what they remember and their thoughts and it feels real good to hear those kinds of things. It never gets old and it makes my days better when you have the kind words and thoughts that people often say.’
To learn more about the Travis Roy Foundation, go to travisroyfoundation.org.
Nick Cardamone, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been a weekly sports columnist for The Daily Free Press.