The ESPY awards will be broadcast live on ESPN on July 17.
Dick Hoyt, foreground left, pushes his son Rick on the Boston Marathon course in Wellesley, Mass., Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) HOLLAND - With perseverance, Team Hoyt, the father and son team of Dick and Rick Hoyt, have finished more than 1,000 endurance events, from triathlons to marathons.
So it's only fitting that Team Hoyt will be honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at ESPN's upcoming ESPY awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The award is given in honor of the late North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, who inspired many after his battle with cancer in 1993.
What makes their story inspirational is that 73-year-old Dick Hoyt pushes his 51-year-old son Rick Hoyt in a special wheelchair during endurance events, something they have done together since 1977.
"It's quite an honor," Dick Hoyt said in a recent telephone interview about the award. "Rick's got his tuxedo ready. He's ecstatic."
The ESPY awards will be televised live from Nokia Theatre on July 17 at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
They both will have a chance to speak. The award will be presented by actor and Boston native Ben Affleck. Dick Hoyt said he will highlight their motto - "Yes You Can" and talk about what his son has done with his life.
"I think our message is very, very strong - yes you can. It's similar to Jimmy Valvano's motto - don't give up," Dick Hoyt said.
"We have always said that there is no word as can't in the Hoyt vocabulary . . . We strive to always persevere even when others tell you that it cannot be done," Dick Hoyt said in a statement.
This is the latest accolade for the father-son team in a year that saw them get a statue in their honor in Hopkinton, at the start of the Boston Marathon.
This year was their 31st Boston Marathon and supposed to be their last, but because they were stopped one mile short of the finish line due to the bombings, Dick Hoyt said they will do it again next year, in honor of the people who were killed and the survivors of the tragedy.
The family has persevered from the day Rick was born.
Rick was born a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy and doctors told the Hoyt family he would be nothing but "a vegetable," Dick Hoyt recalled.
Dick Hoyt said the family refused to put him in an institution, and instead kept him home, treating him like any other child.
They took him camping, hiking and out to eat in restaurants where people would stare and ask to move their seats. Dick Hoyt said they knew Rick was smart and could understand everything they were saying. They taught him the alphabet and numbers.
"Everything we did, we did it with Rick," Dick Hoyt said.
In this April 8, 2013 file photo, Dick Hoyt, left, talks with his son Rick as he wheels him next to a statue dedicated in their honor in front of the Center School in Hopkinton, Mass. Dick has pushed his son Rick, who is a quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy, along the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon route for 30 years. They plan to compete again in MondayÃs race. (AP Photo/The MetroWest Daily News, Allan Jung, File) He said they fought to get him into the public school system. With the help of an interactive computer designed by engineers at Tufts University, Rick, at age 12, was able to communicate - his first words were "Go Bruins!" as the hockey team was competing in the Stanley Cup. He later graduated from Boston University with a special education degree.
Dick Hoyt, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, remembered their first race. It was Rick's idea. He told his father he wanted to participate in a 5-mile benefit run for a lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident.
"He said, 'Dad, I have to do something for him,'" Dick Hoyt recalled. "This was at a time when I was not a runner. I had a hard time pushing him . . . We finished next to last, but not last."
Rick Hoyt after told his father that when they ran together it felt as if he were not even handicapped, Dick Hoyt said.
Thirty-four years later, they are still running together. They will do 20 to 25 races this year.
Dick Hoyt said he's starting to scale back on some of the more grueling events. The duo has done six Ironman triathlons consisting of swimming, biking and running. He pulls Rick in a boat during the swimming portion.
"I'm getting older now. It's starting to take a toll on my body," said Dick Hoyt, who said they will continue to do half-marathons and triathlons, just not Ironman.
Seeing Rick's accomplishments helps others who are physically challenged, or struggling with other problems, Dick Hoyt said.
He said they've received letters from people who said they were inspired to get fit after hearing about them. He said they also received letters from two young women who said they were ready to commit suicide, and now they are out running marathons and doing triathlons because of them.
"Throughout their lives, Dick and Rick Hoyt have exemplified dedication and persistence, living out Jim Valvano's famous words about perseverance," Maura Mandt, executive producer of the ESPYS (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award), said in a statement.
"The Hoyts serve as a symbol of their hometown as they consistently display strength and resilience - just like the city of Boston did in the aftermath of the marathon tragedy. Their numerous accomplishments have served as a true inspiration to many people and we're proud to honor them with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award," she continued.
The ESPYS are put on by the cable sports network ESPN.
Team Hoyt also was featured on "Katie," the talk show of Katie Couric in May.