Rick Hansen

Rick Hansen Profile & Biography

Social Links Of Rick Hansen

Who Is Rick Hansen

Richard Marvin Rick Hansen is a Canadian track and field athlete (Paralympic Games), activist, and philanthropist for people with disabilitie born August 26, 1957.Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury after involving in an pickup truck accident at the age of 15.

Ever since then Hansen have been actively involved in his philanthric movement for the people with disabilities.

Hansen was inducted into the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 after he performing his most famous for his Man in Motion World Tour.

Early Life & Education

Richard Rick Hansen grew up in Williams Lake, British Columbia but was born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, although paralysed at the age of 15 years he managed to win all-star awards in five sports.

After surving the pains, injuries and impact he got the fatal accident that claimed his two legs, Hansen was subjected a life on wheel chair but that did not stop him rather he went further to completed his high school, then became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in physical education from the University of British Columbia.

Family, Wife & Marraige

Rick has maintained a very close relationship with his family, especially with his father and grandfather, with whom he enjoyed frequent fishing trips.

Rick Hansen Life time Achievements & Career Journey

In 1980 and 1984, Rick Hansen started of his Paralympic career by competing in wheelchair racing at Summer Paralympics winning a total of three gold medals, two silver and one bronze. He took part in the national championships on wheelchair volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams and came out the winner.

Hansen won 19 international wheelchair marathons, including three world championships.
He has coached high school basketball and volleyball.

In 1980, fellow British Columbian and Canadian athlete Terry Fox, who had lost a leg to bone cancer, undertook the Marathon of Hope, intending to run across Canada from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island to raise awareness for cancer research.

He made it from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Thunder Bay, Ontario, before a cancer recurrence forced him to stop, about half of the way through his journey.

Inspired by Terry’s courage, Hansen decided to undertake a similar journey to prove the potential of people with disabilities and to inspire a more accessible world. But his planned path was far more ambitious: he planned to circle the world in his wheelchair.

He started his Man in Motion World Tour on March 21, 1985, from Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. At first 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 more than 40,000 km through 34 countries on four continents before crossing Canada on wheelchair.

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 an international hero.

Hansen at the moment spearheads the Rick Hansen Foundation, which has generated more than $200 million for spinal cord injury-related programs.

Rick Hansen Foundation For Disables

Rick Hansen started his Foundation in 1988, after completiinh the Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion World Tour, to continue raising funds and awareness to create a world without barriers for people with disabilities. For over 30 years now his Foundation has been actively improving the lives of people with disabilities, changing perceptions and breaking down barriers.

The vision of the organization is to create an inclusive world where people with disabilities can reach their full potential. Through programs, collaboration and leadership, the Foundation has increased awareness and solutions for the barriers people with disabilities face, created more accessible spaces, improved the quality of life and health outcomes for people with spinal cord injuries, mobility issues and other disabilities.

Hansen is the current President and CEO of Rick Hansen Foundation a project he started sin 1997 till present.
He is a member and national fellow of Rick Hansen National Fellow Programme, University of British Columbia since 1990 till present.
He was the Consultant on Disability Issues to the President, University of British Columbia since 1989 & 1991
He was the Commissioner General to Canada Pavilion at World Exposition ’88 in Brisbane, Australia 1987 & 1988

Awards & National Honors

Special Achievement Award, University of British Columbia (1979–1982)
“Outstanding Athlete of the Year,” by Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (1980)
Lou Marsh/Canadian Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award; co-winner, Wayne Gretzky (1983)
Outstanding Young Person of the World for personal improvement and accomplishment by Junior Chamber International (1983)
University of British Columbia’s Alumni Award of Distinction (1983)
Athlete of the Week: by ABC Wide World of Sports (1983)
British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, W.A.C. Bennett Award (1983)
Newsmaker of the Year by Canadian Press (1986)
Companion of the Order of Canada (June 29, 1987)
Order of British Columbia (1990)
Terry Fox Hall of Fame (1993)
W.A.C. Bennett Award (BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum) (1994)
Induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (2006)[1]
Canada’s Walk of Fame (2007)
Recipient of CPA Alberta’s Christopher Reeve Award (2007)
UBC Sports Hall of Fame
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Alberta (2011)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Vancouver Island University (2009)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Carleton University (2009)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Simon Fraser University (2008)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Northern British Columbia (2008)
Honorary Doctor of Letters, Thompson Rivers University, Williams Lake Campus (2007)
William Van Horne Visionary Award (2006)
Honorary Doctor of Letters, McGill University (2005)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, McMaster University (1999)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Western Ontario (1997)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Regina (1997)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Toronto (1995)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Victoria (1994)
Royal Bank Award (1994)
University of British Columbia Athletic Hall of Fame (1994)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, Saint Mary’s University (1993)
Honorary Doctor of Laws, UBC (1987)
People in Motion, a not-for-profit organization was named after Hansen
Four 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
Rick Hansen Public School, Aurora, Ontario

Pictures Of Rick Hensen