PORT ANGELES — All of the inductees in the 2024 class of the Port Angeles Roughriders Hall of Fame had to overcome major obstacles for their athletic success.
But none of the athletes, all of whom battled various injuries, illnesses and other personal challenges, likely faced a challenge as big as Barry Wilcox did. He had to completely reinvent himself as an athlete.
Wilcox said he saw it as a second chance to do what he loved and still loves.
Wilcox, a 1996 graduate of Port Angeles High School, was an elite cyclist as a teenager, winning junior national titles in the time trial. At the age of 16, he made the United States junior national team.
His athletic career was just getting started and it looked like he was headed for big things in the cycling world.
And in a way, he was, but the journey was much longer and more difficult than he could have known at the time.
In his junior year at Port Angeles High School, he was involved in a serious automobile accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury, leaving him in a wheelchair.
“When I was 16, I faced losing it all. I had no clue which way to go,” he said.
He kept in shape, with much of his focus after the accident initially on taking care of himself and being able to remain physically independent.
“I started going to the gym and working out and staying healthy,” he said.
A few years after the accident, Wilcox was back involved in sports, joining wheelchair rugby teams in Portland, Ore., and Utah — The Portland Pounders and Utah Scorpions. He was a member of two teams that won Division II championships. He loved the team spirit in wheelchair rugby.
Then in 2015, he got back into cycling — hand cycling. He traveled the world competing in world championships and world cups. He said he came to love the training, being healthy, the camaraderie of the sport and pushing himself.
Then, he hit the pinnacle of his career — at least so far — in 2023, winning a bronze medal in the road cycling world championships in Glasgow, Scotland. At that same event, he also came in fifth in the time trial. He considers himself a better road cyclist than a time trial cyclist.
This year, he had a couple of fifth-place finishes and a sixth in international races.
Wilcox also competed to be part of the Paris Paralympics, which start later this month. He said he came up just short of qualifying this year but still has goals to compete in the world championships in Huntsville, Ala., in 2026 and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
He knows both goals won’t be easy and he’s making no promises yet. He calls himself “cautiously optimistic and enthusiastic” about working toward Huntsville and Los Angeles.
Wilcox now lives in Gilbert, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix. He said Tucson is a perfect place to train for hand-cycling.
“Tucson has an extraordinary trail system for cycling. You can ride for hours and not have to be anywhere near cars,” he said.
Wilcox said was very grateful when he heard that he was being inducted into the Roughriders Hall of Fame. He’s the first para-athlete to be inducted.
“I don’t get back to Port Angeles enough. There will be a few great friends there,” he said. “It’s one of the best places to ride bikes.”
“Thirty years post-injury, I love riding. I love pushing myself,” he said.
Dinner, other inductees
The Roughriders Hall of Fame dinner is scheduled at 5 p.m. Saturday at Civic Field . Tickets can be purchased at pahshof.org.
The other inductees include:
• Cameron Braithwaite, track and field.
• Derek Church, swimming.
• Burdette Greeny, basketball.
• Liz Money, soccer.
• Jesse Schouten, tennis.
• Julie Shevlin (Urfer), gymnastics and track.
• Kiah Sullivan (Jones), volleyball.
• Heather Lucas, track.
• Mike Madison, basketball.
Also, three teams are being inducted. They include the 1967-68 swim teams, the 1982-85 girls cross-country teams and the 1972 indoor two-mile relay team.
