Jason Regier made one of the shortest, but most inspirational, speeches Tuesday night at the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet in downtown Denver.
Regier told of his comeback from an auto accident to his winning a gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics in quad rugby. He received the disabled athlete of the year award.
Paralyzed from the neck down, Regier’s message was aimed at telling his story — but also connecting it to the economic crisis faced by the nation today.
“Force yourself to take a step forward and make a positive difference,” Regier told an audience of more than 800. “I decided I would persevere from my accident and always took the next step forward.”
After Regier’s speech, members of the induction Class of 2009 took their steps forward in a program that stretched past 10:30 p.m.
Inducted were Jerry McMorris, the first principal owner and CEO of the Rockies; former Broncos star Rod Smith, the most productive receiver in franchise history; former Colorado State football coach Sonny Lubick, who led the Rams to prominence; Laurice “Lo” Hunter, the first lady of girls sports in Colorado; Lt. Col. John Mosley, the first African-American football player at Colorado A&M (now CSU) starting in 1939; and Ralph Backstrom, whose lifelong association with hockey included coaching the University of Denver and running the successful Colorado Eagles of the Central Hockey League.
Mosley told of his experiences in high school at Manual and in college, and of his distinguished military career. He brought up names from Colorado’s sports past such as Olympic champion Jerome Biffle and Denver businessman Charles Cousins, a teammate at both Manual and CSU.
“We both had Model-A cars that we drove from Denver to Fort Collins,” Mosley said of him and Cousins. “We didn’t have money for gasoline, so we would drain the gasoline pump hoses to get us to Fort Collins.”
Backstrom put in a plug for the Eagles, who are in the CHL playoffs. “There’s still hockey being played in Colorado,” Backstrom said, giving a backward nod to the Avalanche, whose season has ended.
McMorris told of the pitfalls that were overcome in getting a National League expansion franchise for Denver that began play in 1993.
He told of an owners meeting when he encountered the late Gene Autry, who owned the California Angels.
“Gene told me he voted for Denver,” McMorris said. “He said he only voted for Denver because when he was on a singing tour, Colorado always treated him No. 1. He also said that his horse Champion was treated No. 1 in Colorado.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
