Rick Hansen

For other people named Rick Hansen, see Rick Hansen (disambiguation).

Rick Hansen, CC, OBC, LLD (honoris causa), D.Litt. (honoris causa) (born August 26, 1957) is a Canadian paraplegic athlete and activist for people with spinal cord injuries. Following a car crash at the age of 15, Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the belly button down. Hansen is most famous for his Man in Motion world tour.

Early life

Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Hansen grew up in Williams Lake, British Columbia. As a young athlete, he had won all-star awards in five sports when he was paralyzed at the age of 15 after being thrown from the back of a truck. He worked on rehabilitation, completed high school, then became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in physical education from the University of British Columbia. Hansen won national championships on wheelchair volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams. He went on to become a world class champion wheelchair marathoner and 1980 Summer Paralympics athlete (where he won gold in the 800m). Hansen won 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships. He also coached high school basketball and volleyball. Rick lived with both of his parents. They were quite wealthy and able to keep him in organized sports. Rick had a very close relationship with his family, especially with his father with whom he enjoyed frequent fishing trips. He was an outstanding student. Maintaining his 90.75% average he enjoyed physical ed., English and science.

Man in Motion world tour

Hansen was inspired by his friend Terry Fox, who attempted an 8,000 km cross-Canada Marathon of Hope with an artificial leg in the name of raising funds for cancer research.

He started his Man in Motion tour on March 21, 1985 from Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. Although public attention was low at the beginning of the tour, he soon attracted international media attention as he progressed on a 26-month trek, logging over 40,000 km through 34 countries on four continents before crossing Canada. He returned to Vancouver's BC Place Stadium to cheering crowds of thousands on May 22, 1987 after raising $26 million for spinal cord research and quality of life initiatives. Like Terry Fox, he was hailed as a national hero. That was when he started his Canada World tour.

Today, the wheelchair and many other items associated with the Man in Motion world tour are preserved by the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. The song "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" was written in his honor by fellow British Columbian David Foster and performed by John Parr for the soundtrack of the film St. Elmo's Fire. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

Post-tour career & personal

Hansen became president and CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, which has generated more than $178 million for spinal cord injury related programs and initiatives.

Hansen was noted as "the driving force" in the development of the $48 million International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (iCORD), a new spinal cord facility. His foundation donated the final $8 million needed to complete the centre, expected to open in 2008 at Vancouver General Hospital. iCORD will house an old information network designed to track and record "best practices" in spinal cord treatment across the country and internationally, as well as the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry, allowing doctors and experts across the country to share vital information on what works and what doesn't for specific kinds of spinal cord injuries.

He has served as chair of both the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society and the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund Society, helping to restore and protect sturgeon and salmon populations in British Columbia.

Hansen married Amanda Reid, his former physiotherapist. They have three daughters, Emma, Alana and Rebecca, and live in Richmond, BC.

Awards and honours

• National disabled athlete of the year (1979)
• Lou Marsh Trophy (1983)
• Companion of the Order of Canada (March 29, 1988)
• Order of British Columbia (1990)
• W.A.C. Bennett Award (BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum) (1994)
• Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (2006)
• Canada's Walk of Fame (2007)
• UBC Sports Hall of Fame
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, UBC
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, McGill University (2005)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Thompson Rivers University, Williams Lake Campus(2007)
• Three public schools have been named after Hansen:
  • Rick Hansen Secondary School, Abbotsford, British Columbia
  • Rick Hansen Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario
  • Rick Hansen Elementary School, London, Ontario

He was named Commissioner General for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo '88 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Also, he enjoys to trampoline, on a special trampoline made especially for wheelchairs. In 1986, a township in Sudbury District, Ontario, previously named the Geographical Township of Stalin, in the athlete's honour as the Township of Hansen. It is now within the boundary of the municipality of Killarney.

Books written

Hansen is the co-author of two books: the autobiographical Rick Hansen: Man in Motion, written with Jim Taylor (published in 1987, ISBN 0-88894-560-4), and the self-help book Going the Distance: 7 steps to personal change, written with Dr. Joan Laub.

Books about Rick Hansen

• Boy in Motion, ISBN 978-1-55365-252-6

- a beautifully illustrated picture book telling the inspiring true story of an exuberant boy who struggled through adversity and triumphed to live his dreams. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA -pennywise the dancing clown!

External links

• Rick Hansen Foundation official website
• BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
• CBC Digital Archives – Rick Hansen: Man In Motion