In 1995, Travis Roy, a 20-year-old hockey prodigy started his first game as part of Boston University's champion team. The puck dropped, Travis checked an opposing team player and fell on the ice, injured. Eleven seconds had passed of his dream career— lying on the ice, paralyzed from the neck down, his father Lee holding his hand, Travis said, “I made it dad.”
Travis Roy began a difficult and heroic period of recovery, therapy, acceptance and then grace. He described it heroically and prophetically, “Sometimes you choose life's challenges and sometimes they choose you.” Everyone who knew Travis called him a figure of magnetic calm— any conversation with him would create solace in those who engaged. He was beloved and heralded, an inspiration to many, and his wisdom resounds of how to live a life worth living, despite the challenges we encounter.
The memorial to Travis Roy will be a monument to how the light can embody us and make us greater. It will be built in the garden of the Prudential Center, one of the most trafficked corners in New England, and where Travis's office was housed before his untimely death in 2020. On that evening, the Boston skyline was illuminated red in his honor— a tribute to his light, courage, and spirit.
Project Info
Year: 2025
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
ClientBXP, Travis Roy Foundation
Collaborators
Formations Studio