Eleven Seconds; A Story of Tragedy, Courage, and Triumph

Roy, Travis, with Swift, E. M.

ISBN 10: 0446521884 / ISBN 13: 9780446521888

Published by Grand Central Publishing, New York, 1998

About this Item

x, [2], 236 pages. Illustrations. Signed with sentiment by Travis Roy on half-title page. Travis Matthew Roy (born April 17, 1975 in Augusta, Maine, USA) is a philanthropist and former American college ice hockey player. Roy attended Yarmouth High School as a freshman, then transferred to nearby North Yarmouth Academy (NYA) in order to pursue an athletic scholarship. Roy transferred again and graduated from Tabor Academy and received an ice hockey scholarship to Boston University. On October 20, 1995 - just eleven seconds into his first-ever shift for Boston University men's ice hockey team - a 20-year-old Roy slid head-first into the boards after University of North Dakota player Mitch Vig avoided Roy's check. The awkward impact with the boards resulted in Roy's cracking his fourth and fifth vertebra and leaving him a quadriplegic. Since the accident, he has regained movement in his right arm. Derived from a Kirkus review: The story of an athlete whose career was cut short by a devastating injury told with unusual honesty and feeling. Twenty-year-old Roy was eleven seconds into his first collegiate hockey game as a Boston University freshman when a crash into the boards broke his neck. Assisted by Sports Illustrated writer Swift, Roy describes his growing-up years as the son of a hockey coach in Maine and his fierce love of the sport that dominated his life from an early age. His dreams of making the US Olympic team and then the National Hockey League ended on October 20, 1995, when the fourth vertebra in his spine was shattered, leaving him a quadriplegic. A year later he was back at Boston University, starting again as a freshman, this time in a wheelchair, struggling desperately to fit in. What distinguishes Roy's story is the degree to which he lets the reader share his sadness. The victories are heartbreakingly tiny ones, and there are more tears than cheers. Seller Inventory # 77703

Bibliographic Details

Title: Eleven Seconds; A Story of Tragedy, Courage,...

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, New York

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very good

Dust Jacket Condition: Very good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: Later printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

In this heartfelt testament to the power of love and the strength of the human spirit, Travis Roy, who suffered a devastating injury eleven seconds into his first college hockey game, reveals how he has managed to cope after the accident and, with the help of family and friends, overcome tremendous barriers to begin a new life.

From the Back Cover:

Eleven seconds was all it took. Eleven seconds to stop cold a shining career scarcely before it had taken off on the ice. Travis Roy was a promising twenty-year-old hockey star. Then moments into his first collegiate game as a Boston University freshman, a freak accident drove Travis into the boards. A cracked fourth vertebra left him paralyzed from the neck down. That fateful October night in 1995 signaled the death of one dream - but also the eventual rebirth of a special kind of hope. For, though imprisoned for months in a hospital bed, then confined to a wheelchair, Travis gradually found the grit and the will to reclaim for himself a fulfilling and productive life. Eleven seconds is a story about America's love affair with sports and the people who embrace its never-die spirit. Most of all, it is the story of one young man who surrendered to no limits and defied all odds, both before and after the tragedy that ended his game.