Has left an enduring legacy - represented Canada and UBC at '82 Pan Am games and '84 Olympics, plus won numerous marathons, gaining national recognition as an athlete. Raised both awareness and funds for disabled through his "Man in Motion" world tour launched from UBC in '85. First person with a disability to graduate from UBC's Physical Education faculty.
In 1980 UBC student Rick Hansen had, for the second consecutive year, been named both BC and Canadian Physically Disabled Athlete of the Year. He had just set a world record in the 800 meters and was winner of four gold medals at the BC track and field meet for the physically disabled. This, together with his outstanding play with the Canadian champion Vancouver wheelchair basketball team and the national champion volleyball team, had earned the physical education student the reputation of being one of this province's most remarkable athletes.
Eight years previous, at the age of 15, Rick suffered a broken spine when the truck in which he was a passenger overturned near his home at Williams Lake, BC. An outstanding young athlete, Hansen decided that instead of feeling sorry for himself he would set goals to re-direct his energy. He would take challenges rather than avoid them. In the words of sports journalist Jim Taylor, "he fought self-pity, fought despair…he would rebuild his shattered body to the best it could be, to drive it as far and as high as it could go ". Hansen told fellow students “I am a stronger individual now -look at my face and see my smile".
Hansen, in 1976, was the first disabled person to enroll in the School of Physical Education at UBC. Remembered by his UBC contemporaries as, "a good guy...always around the gym shooting hoops often surrounded by a group of admirers," Rick was an excellent basketball player playing on five national champion wheelchair teams as well as on three Canadian champion volleyball teams. He also won championships in wheelchair tennis and racquetball, all sports at which he excelled as a youngster and took up again while at UBC.
As a student between 1976 and 1984, Rick's quest was to raise public awareness as to the accomplishments and potential of the physically disabled. He felt that athletics could best showcase the physical abilities of these people as well as assist in their integration into the community. He wanted to motivate disabled people into re-discovering respect for their bodies and to come to terms with themselves. Hansen began this quest through his "Rickathon ", a 20 mile course raced by the able and disabled, to raise money for disabled athletes. In 1981, his fourth such marathon, Hansen raised $12,000 while setting a new course record. Hansen completed the year dubbed the "Wayne Gretzky of his sport" after winning the 1981 Canadian national wheelchair marathon championship.
In 1982 Hansen, representing Canada and UBC, won eight gold medals and set eight world records at the first ever Pan-American games for disabled athletes. That same year he entered the Boston wheelchair marathon, covering the 26-mile course six minutes faster than the former course record. He also was the winner of the Oita Invitational wheelchair marathon in Japan, a race he won again the following year. Hansen was both BC and Canadian Physically Disabled Athlete of the Year for 1982, the third time he had been so honoured. He also received a UBC special achievement award for his accomplishments during the 1982/83 school year.
1983 was a proud year for Hansen as he and Wayne Gretzky were acknowledged as Canada's Male Athletes of the Year - sharing the prestigious Lou Marsh trophy, the highest individual award achievable in Canadian athletics.
In 1984, Hansen earned honours from the community and a nomination for UBC's coveted Bobby Gaul Award by winning a gold medal at the World Wheelchair Games in England. That same year, Hansen was among the athletes from UBC taking part in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, reaching the final of the 1500m race. In his career as a marathoner, Hansen was the victor in no less than 19 international marathons.
The next year, UBC’s Hansen embarked on perhaps the most ambitious endeavour of any athlete. He would begin his 40,000-kilometre, 34-country journey around the world by wheelchair. Known as the "Man in Motion World Tour", it was designed to create awareness of the potential of the disabled person and initiate a world-wide fund for spinal cord research, rehabilitation and wheelchair sport. This "tour" would take 26 months and include the US, Europe, Soviet Union, North Africa, Australia, Japan, the Far East and Canada. "I'm doing this tour because I believe it will make a difference" stated Hansen. "I am hoping people will treat the disabled with respect and see them for what they can do rather than what they can't do."
In March 1985, thousands of supportive on-lookers wished Hansen farewell as he headed south from Vancouver with the blessing of the city and UBC and his goal of $10 million in mind.
After two years of travelling in extreme weather conditions, often in pain, through such areas as the Alps, the Rockies, and the Great Wall of China, Hansen returned home triumphant, having raised a total of $24 million! He was an inspiration to many as he travelled, especially to those who will shape tomorrow's society - young people. He talked to as many as he could and they in turn had an effect on him. "The kids would reach out and touch you. They give you a special inspiration.”
Hansen today is an inspiration to others through his motivational speaking engagements and the money he has raised being distributed as grants to organizations, projects and individuals to serve the goals of research, rehabilitation awareness and recreation. As of 2010, $200 million dollars had been raised through his efforts.
This ambassador for Canadian wheelchair athletes became the Commissioner General of the Canada Pavilion at Expo 1988 in Brisbane, Australia. In March 1989, he re-established his ties with UBC as he was hired as a consultant to the UBC president, helping develop better programs and services for people on campus with disabilities. 1993 saw Rick's dream of Canada's first barrier - free public school become a reality, a school that is known as Rick Hansen Secondary.
Now the CEO of Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation, Rick in 2005 opines, "Over the past 20 years...we have made great strides in spinal-cord-injury research, quality of life improvements and access gains for people with disability, which have made our country the global standard."
Hansen continues to receive many honours for his accomplishments including; UBC's Alumni Award of Distinction, the Award of Distinction from the Manning Awards Foundation, the John F. Bassett Champion of Champions Award as well as his Honorary Doctorate from UBC, induction in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada. However, according to Rick, the important thing is that "Now, maybe in four or five generations, the wheelchair could be a thing of the past".
This Inductee is also in the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
