Team Hoyt Virginia Beach

The history of Team Hoyt Virginia Beach - Our friends and mentors:

Team Hoyt VB is a 501(c)(3) organization modeled after Team Hoyt, the father-son team of Dick and Rick Hoyt. 

Born in 1962, Rick was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, affecting all four limbs and rendering him non-verbal.  Dick and his then-wife, Judy, were advised to institutionalize Rick because there "was no chance of him recovering, and little hope for Rick to live a 'normal' life."  The Hoyts continued to treat Rick like any other child and invested in a speech machine early on.  This was just the beginning of Dick and Judy's quest for Rick's inclusion in community, sports, education, and one day, the workplace.  Rick graduated from Boston University in 1993 and went on to work at Boston College, helping develop systems to support communication and other tasks for people with disabilities.

In the spring of 1977, Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a 5-mile benefit run for a Lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Far from being a long-distance runner, Dick agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair, and they finished all 5 miles, coming in next-to-last. That night, Rick told his father, “Dad, when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.” This realization was just the beginning of what would become 1130 races completed - including marathons, duathlons, and triathlons (6 of them being Ironman competitions). Also adding to their list of achievements, Dick and Rick biked and ran across the U.S. in 1992, completing a full 3,735 miles in 45 days!
Sadly, Dick Hoyt passed away in March of 2021 at the age of 80, and Rick passed away in May of 2023 at 61 years old. They will forever be missed! We envision Rick now pushing Dick around in a chair, just as he always wanted to!

• Team Hoyt was inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame in 2008.
• On April 8, 2013, a bronze statue in honor of the Team Hoyt was dedicated near the start of the Boston Marathon in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
• ESPN honored Team Hoyt with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPY show on July 17, 2013.
• Team Hoyt was inducted into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame in 2020.
• Team Hoyt has also been featured on numerous inspirational billboards within the U.S.

The beginning of Team Hoyt Virginia Beach:

In 2003, one of Virginia Beach's local investigative reporters, Mike Mather, became the father of three boys, all triplets.  During their labor and delivery, complications arose, and eventually one of his sons, Owen Mather, would be diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.  During the depths of his despair, Mike came across Rick and Dick's story and began to educate himself on all things Team Hoyt - and another team was born.  In 2006, alongside Team Hoyt, the father-and-son duo of Mike and Owen Mather competed in their first Half Marathon, the Rock n' Roll at Virginia Beach. 

During that race, another father was closely watching the Hoyt and Mather teams and was quickly inspired by what he saw on the course.  Trey White, a local dentist with Oceanfront Dentistry in Virginia Beach, had found out that his daughter, Katie White, had Prader-Willi Syndrome.  Prader-Willi is a complex genetic disorder of the 15th chromosome; it is the most common known genetic cause of life-threatening obesity in children.  Throughout the year, this daddy/daughter team trained and debuted the newest addition to Team Hoyt during the next year's Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon in Virginia Beach. 

During the run and after a lengthy discussion, Rick and Dick Hoyt authorized Dr. White to use the Hoyt name to form what is now known as Team Hoyt Virginia Beach.  With the enduring oversight from both the Mather and the White families, along with countless riders, runners, and volunteers, Team Hoyt Virginia Beach remains the premier running inclusion foundation of its kind and hosts riders and athletes in over 25 runs a year - including 5k's, half marathons, marathons, and even triathlons!