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Travis Roy's speech inspires Ipswich teachers

By Steve Landwehr
Staff writer
 

When the guy talking to you about what's really important in life is in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down, you're likely to pay attention.

About 250 Ipswich teachers and administrators did just that for 45 minutes yesterday afternoon, after a career development conference in the morning. Students were off for the Good Friday holiday.

The speaker was Travis Roy, the former Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed after a freak on-ice accident in 1995.

"I don't think any of us end up living the life we thought we would," Roy said to open his remarks.

The Yarmouth, Maine, native was on ice skates from the time he was 20 months old. His father, Lee, owned an ice rink, so Roy had all the practice time he wanted.

Always a good athlete, as a high school freshman he sat down and wrote down his goals.

"They were part reality and part fantasy," Roy said.

The first was to play hockey for an NCAA Division I school. The second was to make it to the National Hockey League, and the third was to be chosen for the Olympic hockey team.

He achieved only the first goal. He got a scholarship to BU, which under coach Jack Parker was in the habit of winning national championships. He made the team as a freshman and was determined to play in the first game of the season.

He calls Oct. 20, 1995, "the best day of my life." He got to the arena 21/2 hours before the game and recalled being excited taping up hockey sticks made to his order.

When the game began and he felt the tap on his shoulder from Parker and scrambled onto the ice, Roy realized a childhood goal. Eleven seconds later, he crashed headfirst into the boards, breaking two vertebrae and making a quadriplegic of a fine young athlete.

"It was a dream come true, and it was all over," he said. "Life was over as I knew it."

Roy didn't stop believing in setting goals, and he urged his audience to do the same, and make them lofty.

"I don't believe there's any other way to stay motivated," he said.

He also prodded them to excel.

"You've got to see how good you can be," he said. "Your goal is to help your students reach their potential, and the only way to do that is to see how good you can be as a teacher."

"It's all about pride," he continued. "Knowing you did your best, didn't cut corners, didn't let other teachers and your family down."

Though much of his talk was emotional, Roy did provide a few light moments. He recalled that some years ago his father bought a 1954 Porsche Cabriolet that was pretty much in pieces. It took 10 years, but he finally had it completely restored.

One warm spring day, his father picked him up and set him down in the front passenger seat of the car.

"We drove over to see my mother with the top down on this amazing convertible. When we got there, my dad went in to get my mother. There I sat with my arm on the door, looking like the coolest guy in the world. I'll never forget the smiles on their faces."

Roy, now 32, also preached the gospel of love, saying expressions of endearment for those close to you "should be a daily occurrence."

Faculty members were moved by Roy's words and gave him a prolonged standing ovation.

"He was unbelievably inspirational," Assistant High School Principal Dave Dalton said. "To hear it from somebody whose entire life changed in an instant, you know every word that comes from him is genuine."

Doyon preschool teacher Yvette Pitcairn said she thought Roy's message was to live each day to the fullest.

"And to look at what we have, not what we don't have," she said.

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