Heart on Wheels

The book you are holding is the result of an extraordinary exchange of love. It often showed up as hilarious laughter, enormous tomfoolery, good times, practical jokes, furious frustration expressed at outcomes of sporting events, and other events and noises that some people might misinterpret as not being very loving. It was all love: a love for life, a love for winning, a love for other people. Frieda Sellers said so well, “He had an infinite capacity for love.” But it is not just the love that Tommy Hicks gave to so many who crossed his path. He inspired so many to love him, to be inspired by him, to put aside their own petty complaints and do their best in the face of life’s frustrations.

“Tommy Hicks gave much of his life to supporting Duke basketball. He was an unapologetic fan, the kind of fan that creates so much of our success. I’m sorry he is no longer with us, but this book will keep his memory alive and be a great source of joy to so many of his friends and family. When I think of the number of times he rolled his wheelchair into an arena hosting the ACC tournament, it inspires me to keep coaching winning teams at Duke.”

Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in the history of Division I College basketball

“I have read the early drafts and can tell you that this is an Amazin’ book! Buy it and be ready to laugh and cry harder than you may have in a long time!!”

Dr. Tim Luckadoo, retired Vice Provost, N.C. State University

Any time I try to tell someone what my friendship with Tommy Hicks was about, I get a lump in my throat. With his journalistic style, keen wit, and close observation, Pat Jobe has undertaken a labor of love for us all: to be our words about Tommy, for whom some of us still seek breath to share his name. Collectively, this memoir shares what we all want to express, we knew Tommy. A man who loved us all so well that we each thought that we were unique, and one who taught us by his every example, to live each day to the fullest and without complaint. Thank you, Pat Jobe, for seeking us out and weaving together our individual journeys and stories. Reading your work is a treasure and a roadmap that connects us, each one to the other, and to life with its ever present challenge and promise, and to a universe where there is memory and love and hope that someday we may talk and laugh again with Tommy Hicks, our beloved with whom we were exceptionally graced to call “friend.” I once asked Tommy, “If you could be an animal, what would you be?” Without hesitation, he responded, “A colt!” I close my eyes now and see him leaping free and high across some wide open space.

T.A. Price, poet and author of Bent, 31 Poems