Dream cut short, but Rice runs on

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A car accident ended Bob Rice's elite running career and prevented him from becoming an Olympian. Yet Rice is on the verge of becoming a hall of famer.

The 40-year-old, who lives in Owen Sound, Ont., will be one of this year's inductees into the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame in Parry Sound.

Rice, an Ojibway, is from the Wasauksing First Nation, located near Parry Sound.

Induction ceremonies will be held on June 10. Rice said news of his upcoming induction has forced him to retell various stories about his running days.

"It's been a nice trip down memory lane for me," he said.

Rice was one of Canada's most promising track and field stars in the 1980s. He competed in the 3,000-metre steeplechase event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Rice was the youngest member of the Canadian track and field team at that competition.

And he was hoping to represent Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

But his running career came to a halt in December of '86 when he was helping a friend move. Rice was loading some boxes into a car when another vehicle crashed into him, crushing both of his legs below his knees.

For a while, Rice thought his legs would have to be amputated, but that wasn't necessary.

His elite running days were over, however.

"There was nothing I could do," Rice said. "I had to learn to walk all over again."

Many felt had it not been for his accident, Rice would have gone on to a glorious running career that very well could have rivaled that of famed Aboriginal runner Tom Longboat.

During his brief career, Rice competed in 129 races, winning 79. He also captured a medal in 103 of those events. And in the process broke a total of 43 track records.

Rice primarily competed in steeplechase events. He did though participate in some other track events and also in cross-country running races.

One of his career highlights was placing ninth in the junior men's race at the world championships in New Jersey in 1984. A year earlier he had placed 24th in his race at the world cross-country meet in Gateshead, England.

While he was racing, Rice weighed 149 pounds. Due to years of inactivity, however, his weight ballooned to over 200 pounds.

Last summer Rice decided to get back into shape. And he started to do that by running.

He has lost about 30 pounds since last summer.

And now he's running an average of about 90 kilometres per week. Though he could enter races in the masters' category, Rice doesn't think he'll be racing soon.

"I think I'm just going to be doing recreational running," he said.

Rice is also working these days as the executive director of the Ningwakwe Learning Press, an organization that produces and publishes learning materials with a holistic approach to achieving Aboriginal literacy learning outcomes.

"Bob is forward thinking, very dedicated to what he does," said Susan Bebonang, the president of Ningwakwe Learning Press. "I think what makes him exceptional is he is grounded in his Anishinabek culture and he's very humble with the fact that his past accomplishments don't get in the way of where he is right now."