<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://theathletic.com/4695725/2023/07/18/nhl-referee-blindness-ride-literacy/?fbclid=IwAR0lQb_G1T9CHZwgl3sdSZe07rw40CmqNoVVFVSL-56ITsQuCCkgq8Aza9M_aem_Abjg_ufVyVj71TUcsP1QJN_WLUIylsojOTKw_5jB8DW0244WGW1gaDsac4tC6sL89y8"><style id="print"></style><title>Why NHL referee Dan O’Rourke is biking more than 2,700 miles from Santa Monica to Chicago this summer - The Athletic</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://theathletic.com/4695725/2023/07/18/nhl-referee-blindness-ride-literacy/?fbclid=IwAR0lQb_G1T9CHZwgl3sdSZe07rw40CmqNoVVFVSL-56ITsQuCCkgq8Aza9M_aem_Abjg_ufVyVj71TUcsP1QJN_WLUIylsojOTKw_5jB8DW0244WGW1gaDsac4tC6sL89y8">https://theathletic.com/4695725/2023/07/18/nhl-referee-blindness-ride-literacy/?fbclid=IwAR0lQb_G1T9CHZwgl3sdSZe07rw40CmqNoVVFVSL-56ITsQuCCkgq8Aza9M_aem_Abjg_ufVyVj71TUcsP1QJN_WLUIylsojOTKw_5jB8DW0244WGW1gaDsac4tC6sL89y8</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Why NHL referee Dan O’Rourke is biking more than 2,700 miles from Santa Monica to Chicago this summer</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://theathletic.com/author/michael-russo/" class="byline" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;"><u style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Michael Russo</u></a></div><div class="leading-image" style="max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 1.15em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><img alt="Why NHL referee Dan O’Rourke is biking more than 2,700 miles from Santa Monica to Chicago this summer" srcset="https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=600,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png 600w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=770,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png 770w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1000,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png 1000w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1248,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png 1248w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png 1920w" src="https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,format=auto/https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150102/0718_nhlrefbiking.png" class="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: auto; display: block; clear: both;" data-unique-identifier=""></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">For as long as Dan O’Rourke can remember, his dad has been visually impaired.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">But there’s not one time that he recalls him saying, “No, I can’t do that because I can’t see.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">That meant coaching Dan, now one of the <a href="https://theathletic.com/nhl/" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">NHL</a>’s most experienced referees, and his brother, Steve, an associate coach for the Oshawa Generals, in hockey. That meant playing catch in the backyard, with his sons hoping to hell that they didn’t nail Dad right between the eyes. And yes, that even meant driving a wee bit longer in life than he probably should have in their tiny, one-stoplight town in British Columbia.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“He would always find a way,” says O’Rourke, who began as an NHL linesman in 1999. “That’s one of the things I’ve always picked up from my dad: that stubbornness and determination that I can do anything.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">For his father, Tom, that was good and bad. This is a guy who was good enough at hockey that he was recruited by Boston University before his vision got <em style="max-width: 100%;">really</em> bad. He used to own a campground. He used to be a manager at a car and tire shop, where he would refuse to ask for help even if it meant his arms and legs looked like he got into a fight with a Weedwacker.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">He just never accepted that he was legally blind.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">As a kid, it started as night blindness. O’Rourke’s uncles tell stories about how when Tom was a kid, the boys could be playing ball in the backyard, but as soon as dusk hit, Tom couldn’t see the ball or would go back to make a catch and wipe out over a bike or something.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Tom was eventually diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare eye disease that progressively gets worse as one ages and often results in total blindness sometimes in the early 20s. If you take a piece of paper and poke two pinholes in it and hold it up to your eyes, that’s Tom O’Rourke’s field of vision. He has no peripheral vision. Then you add the night blindness and cataracts, and it’s just been a constant deterioration in his eyesight over the years.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">But because Tom never really accepted that he was blind, he never learned some skills that would have helped him later in life. He doesn’t know how to read braille. He doesn’t use a traditional white cane.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Tom’s idea of a cane is the type a person would use if they have a limp, then taping it white.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“You know, it doesn’t really serve the purpose of a cane that a blind person would need,” O’Rourke says, chuckling.</p><figure style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150316/IMG_2363-rotated-e1689620651600.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="483" srcset="https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150316/IMG_2363-rotated-e1689620651600.jpg 480w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150316/IMG_2363-rotated-e1689620651600-298x300.jpg 298w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150316/IMG_2363-rotated-e1689620651600-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" data-airgap-id="64" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;">
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<span style="max-width: 100%;">Tom and Dan O’Rourke (photo courtesy of Dan O’Rourke)</span></div></div></div></figure><p style="max-width: 100%;">Seeing all that his father, now 75, has overcome served as an inspiration for O’Rourke, and this summer, he’s taking that inspiration and channeling it into a cause.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">O’Rourke is teaming up with the National Federation of the Blind in setting off on a 42-day bike ride, planning to cover more than 2,700 miles along iconic Route 66 — starting in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 27, and ending in Chicago on Sept. 6, not long before O’Rourke and his officiating brethren head off to training camp.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">The money Dan raises through contributions in the name of his “<a href="https://nfb.org/route66" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Ride for Literacy</a>” will go directly to help blind children, with an NFB goal of $250,000 to fund everything from Brail literacy and technology learning to really anything that helps them fulfill their lifelong dreams.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“Being blind shouldn’t have to hold you back,” O’Rourke says. “I just spoke at their convention in Houston, and seeing thousands of people that are similar to my dad and at different stages of eyesight, seeing all the canes and the guide dogs, it was a very humbling experience. You listen to their stories, and the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“I sat for lunch with four blind lawyers. It shows people with vision impairments that, ‘Hey, you can live the life you want. You know, yeah, it’s gonna be different. And it’s probably going to be a little tougher than what a sighted person can do. But you can find a way.’”</p><hr style="max-width: 100%; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); height: 1px; border: 0px;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">O’Rourke, 50, a former minor-league hockey player who has officiated 1,383 regular-season games, 187 playoff games and last month his sixth Stanley Cup Final, has always enjoyed physical and mental challenges.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">A few years ago, he heard about the initiative #BurpeesForVets. He was a bit late in joining the movement, but in just a month and a half, he did 17,000 burpees.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">For this bike ride, the easiest part was coming up with the idea. The hardest part was partnering with the right organization and then organizing and plotting out the route. Back in the spring, O’Rourke was working a game in Washington. The day before, he went to Baltimore to visit NFB’s headquarters, meeting their executives and staffers and taking a tour of their offices. The first thing he was struck by was that this was not the National Federation<em style="max-width: 100%;"> For</em> the Blind; it’s <em style="max-width: 100%;">Of</em> the Blind. It’s run by blind people.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“And their message is very similar to how my dad challenged blindness and not letting it define who you are or what you can do,” O’Rourke says. “They believe that if you set low expectations, that’s what you’re going to end up with. They believe you can live the life you want, and that really resonated with me.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“So I told them, help me plan this thing out and I’ll guarantee you that I will finish this ride. Like there’s no chance that I’m quitting.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">On Sunday, O’Rourke’s 25-year-old son, Austin, got married. He’s an ECHL ref. They do have a dream that if Austin can get to the NHL fast enough and Dan can hang around long enough that they can one day work together.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Austin even made the comment: “Dad, I know you’re gonna either die on the bike or finish. There’s not going to be an in-between.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Weather issues, mechanical problems, nothing will stop O’Rourke, he says: “That’s always been my mentality. I don’t dip my foot in the water. I jump in with both feet and do a cannonball.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">In the weeks since planning the route, O’Rourke and the NFB have been seeking support through sponsors and corporate and individual donations <a href="https://nfb.org/contribute/Ride4Literacy" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">here</a>.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">A company called Woho is providing the saddlebags and frame bags that can hold food, tools and anything else he needs as he pedals through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois. He plans to ride from sunup to sundown, so he needs to be fully equipped.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Alchemy Bikes out of Denver is providing one of its road bikes because his current bike is not set up to ride that many miles that many days and isn’t capable of eating up so much of the road vibration.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">And following along — or sometimes driving in front to block some of the weather — will be O’Rourke’s wife, April, and their dog, Beiley, in a 35-foot Tiffin Allegro Open Road RV the couple just bought, which will also drag a trailer that houses his bikes and other necessities for the six-week trek.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">The NHL has donated money for gas and other expenditures, and many of his fellow officials have helped sponsor things like the campgrounds he and his wife will stay at. The O’Rourkes got a membership that will allow them to stay on sites of campgrounds, breweries, wineries, farms, ranches and zoos.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">The plan is for O’Rourke to ride three or four days in a row clipping off 50 to 55 miles a day, then take a full day off for rest and recovery. He plans to do pit-stop parties during those off days with members of local chapters of the NFB. As O’Rourke rides by areas where fellow officials live, there’s a chance some will even join the ride for that day.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">The hope is to have a finishing event around Sept. 8 in Chicago that will include family, including his parents, Tom and Janis, children, Austin and Gracie, friends and members of the NFB.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">The NFB will be tracking the trek’s progress on its <a href="https://nfb.org/route66" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">website</a>, including plans to live stream at times, and will also provide <a href="https://nfb.org/form/route-66-ride-for-literacy" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">email updates</a>. The NHL will be assisting with social media on its platforms, as well.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">O’Rourke isn’t used to biking this type of distance, but he lives 50 miles northwest of Atlanta and spends a lot of his time biking country roads. Having done CrossFit for years, he’s not worried about his heart rate, endurance or leg strength.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“Honestly, the biggest challenge is your butt,” O’Rourke says. “You just almost have to build up calluses so you can handle the seat time.”</p><figure style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150530/GettyImages-1186372480-1024x738.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="738" srcset="https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150530/GettyImages-1186372480-1024x738.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150530/GettyImages-1186372480-300x216.jpg 300w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150530/GettyImages-1186372480-1536x1107.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/07/17150530/GettyImages-1186372480-2048x1476.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-airgap-id="66" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;">
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<span style="max-width: 100%;">(Claus Andersen / Getty Images)</span></div></div></div></figure><hr style="max-width: 100%; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); height: 1px; border: 0px;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">When Mark Riccobono, the president of the NFB, introduced O’Rourke at the federation’s convention earlier this summer, he said, “Dan’s an NHL referee. He’s not blind, but his dad is, and in his heart, he’s blind as well.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Those words rang true and meant everything to O’Rourke.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">Everything he experienced that weekend at the NFB convention brought back childhood memories. Just helping people to their seats reminded him of grabbing his father’s elbow at night and helping him walk along or telling his dad to step up or down when they got to a curb.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“That was just part of my life. I knew no different,” O’Rourke says.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">That’s why O’Rourke is making sure the proceeds from his ride go directly to blind children. He was touched by how the NFB runs camps for children, run by fellow blind people.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“I think it’s very important that these kids are meeting other kids that are going through some of the same struggles and have some of the same ups and downs and get to know a peer group that they can always lean on,” O’Rourke says. “It’s tough enough to go through as a kid and a teenager when you quote-unquote ‘have no issues’ and you’re not associated with a disability.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">O’Rourke is thankful for the support he’s getting from so many companies and those in the sport of hockey.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">And yes, he knows there will be some hockey fans cracking jokes about a referee raising money for the blind.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“The irony is not lost on me,” O’Rourke says. “The blind referee costume on Halloween, as a guy that’s dad is blind and who officiates, the humor is not as funny. And I can tell you the blind community feels it’s very derogatory. So I understand there will be some jokes and mean comments, but hopefully with the cause and the magnitude of what I’m trying to accomplish, we’ll have more positive than negative and change some of the stigma around blind people.</p><p style="max-width: 100%;">“Honestly, I just can’t wait to get on that bike and put my head down.”</p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><em style="max-width: 100%;">(Top illustration: John Bradford / </em>The Athletic<em style="max-width: 100%;">, with photos from Jana Chytilova / Freestyle Photo / Getty Images and courtesy of Dan O’Rourke)</em></p>
</div></div></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Jim Y. McCollum <div>Board Member</div><div><span style="font-size: 17pt;">National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut </span></div><div>860-581-0430 </div><div>j.mccollum64@comcast.net</div><div>http://NFBCT.org</div><div><br></div></div></body></html>