I am very pleased to share that last month, Normandy’s own Andrew Hadley participated in the final Charity Beanpot Challenge to support the Travis Roy Foundation. To many people around New England, especially members of the hockey community, Travis Roy’s name and story are very well-known. However, people who live in other parts of the country may not know his story as well. Travis Roy grew up in Yarmouth, Maine, attended high school in Marion, Massachusetts at Tabor Academy, and played hockey at Boston University. In 1995, he suffered a devastating injury just eleven seconds into his first college hockey game paralyzing him from the neck down. Later, he founded the Travis Roy Foundation to raise important funds to support research and help spinal cord injury survivors and their families lead more independent lives. The Foundation became his life’s work. The foundation has given more than $5 million to research and helped more than 2,000 quadriplegics and paraplegics.
For close to 20 years, I was very fortunate to call Travis a friend. Travis is one of the most amazing people I have met in my life. He is a remarkable person who left a positive impression on every person that he came in contact with. He was never negative about his situation and always looking for ways to help others and lift them up. Most of my best memories with Travis occurred while attending the annual Wiffle Ball Tournament in Jericho, Vermont at Little Fenway, Little Wrigley and Field of Dreams. What came to be known as “the best weekend of the year” happened the 2nd weekend in August. I feel extremely lucky to have been a part of a team, the Boston Beef, that participated 20+ straight years and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Foundation.
Sadly, Travis passed away in October of 2020. It was his wish for the Foundation to come to close after his death. I am so pleased that Andrew Hadley, a hockey enthusiast, participated in the final Charity Beanpot in order to salute Travis’ life and legacy. Included is a picture of Andrew and the other players team. Andrew raised more than $2,000 from friends and family for the final Travis Roy Foundation event. I’m confident that Travis’ legacy will live on through all of the people that he touched with his tenacity, determination, and love.
– Andrew Sullivan