A new scholarship at Sargent College continues the legacy of Travis Roy (COM’00, Hon.’16), an advocate for people with disabilities following his injury in a BU hockey game. Roy died in October, 2020. 

Scholarships

Travis Roy Foundation Endows Sargent College Scholarship for Graduate Students in Occupational and Physical Therapy

Late BU alum/advocate was paralyzed after hockey accident his freshman year; gift will help paraplegics, quadriplegics

Left paralyzed by a crash into the boards during his first BU hockey game, Travis Roy (COM’00, Hon.’16) devoted his life to helping those with similar injuries. Now, three years after his death at 45, an eponymous scholarship will continue that mission.

His Travis Roy Foundation has given $1 million to Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences to create the Travis M. Roy Endowed Scholarship Fund. The fund will provide annual scholarships, starting with the 2024–25 academic year, to one or more graduate students studying occupational or physical therapy at the College. Preference for scholarships, to be awarded by Sargent’s dean or their designee, will be given to students studying paralysis and spinal cord injury and who have demonstrated interest in a patient-focused career. The foundation also prefers that recipients make their careers in New England.

“This is a tangible, living legacy to Trav’s life and impact, pursuing his quest for ‘how good can I be’ and enabling Sargent’s programs and its students to do the same,” Roy’s parents, Brenda and Lee, said in a statement. “The Travis Roy Endowed Scholarship Fund highlights Travis’s passion for helping others and his life of gratitude in the face of adversity.”

Sargent College Dean Christopher Moore calls the scholarship “an enduring celebration of Travis’s relationship with BU and Sargent College. It reflects our shared commitment to supporting everyone’s participation in their lives and communities to the fullest extent possible.”

Per the scholarship agreement, Travis Roy Scholars must lead one or more public forums about best practices in physical or occupational therapy. Beyond the scholarship gift, the foundation has given $15,000 to support integrating the Scholars into the scientific and clinical community more broadly, with a preference for an annual event at which Scholars exchange ideas with their mentors, members of the public, and other student researchers. Among other costs, the money would cover student stipends for professional development.

BU will invest the gift for six months to earn interest, after which the first recipient will be selected, likely in summer 2024 for the following academic year. Starting with the scholarship’s second year, two recipients will be chosen annually. The goal is to award $40,000 annually from the scholarship.

Roy was a mere 11 seconds into his inaugural play as a member of the men’s hockey team when injured in 1995. Ten months later, he returned to the University, eventually earning his communications degree. He embarked on a career as a motivational speaker and advocate for other people living with paralysis. 

The Travis Roy Foundation, founded the year following Roy’s injury, has helped support more than 2,100 quadriplegics and paraplegics by devoting half the money it raises (more than $7.2 million to date) toward adaptive equipment purchases—wheelchairs, mattresses, home and vehicle modifications—that help users live more independently.

“For someone with a spinal cord injury, having the right equipment can mean the difference between feeling helplessly insufficient as a person and a professional and being independent and capable enough to work and help raise a family,” the foundation’s website says. “And we are not just helping the recipient. Our grants also relieve some of the physical and emotional strain on family and friends.”

The foundation has also given $5 million for spinal cord research, including to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston and the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.

Roy asked that his namesake foundation cease operations after he died, and so it will close at the end of 2023 after 27 years, it has announced. However, the Roy scholarship fund and Sargent professorship are endowed in perpetuity.

“Travis set a high bar,” said Arthur Page, chair of the foundation’s board of trustees. “In hockey, his goal was to excel for the Terriers at the Division I level; after his injury, he sought to help others while rebuilding his own life. He was always pushing himself. He led with humanity and inspired those around him to reach for their own goals and beyond.”