Houtekier doesn't win race, but Capt. Bob Juarez still hits jackpot

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By Nate Taylor | Saturday, July 26, 2008 10:10 PM CDT | () comments

Ben Houtekier from Moline, this year’s Bix Jackpot Runner who ran to raise money for Capt. Bob Juarez, crosses the finish line in 34:25 on Saturday. Houtekier came in 14th. (John Schultz/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

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Davenport firefighter Robert Juarez now knows how special his story is.

It seemed as if the 34th annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 race was a race for him. The Jackpot runner Ben Houtekier ran to raise money for the Robert Juarez Relief Fund.

The Davenport Fire Department ran with red T-Shirts that said, “Running for Capt. Bob Juarez.”

To top it off, Juarez received a visit to his hospital room that he never saw coming.

“I’m very lucky,” he said. “I want to say it every day now.”

Juarez fell 20 feet from a ladder while tackling a fire at a downtown Davenport storage facility in knee-deep floodwater June 12 and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Talking to him Saturday, he said he felt like the luckiest man alive.

Bob’s wife, Nancy Juarez, still thinks her husband is having trouble realizing the kind of day he had Saturday.

“It’s still hard for him to comprehend that he is a hero to other people,” she said.

Juarez’s day started when he watched his newest friend, Houtekier, run the Bix 7 on TV from his hospital room at Genesis Medical Center, West Campus, Davenport.

The East Moline firefighter wanted to win the race and donate the $3,400 to Juarez’s relief fund. Houtekier said he was thinking about Juarez the entire time during the race. The Juarez family gathered in his hospital room.

The family cheered Houtekier on as they watched him run. They saw the

Jackpot runner give it all he had before being passed by 13 runners on the way down Brady Street.

Houtekier finished with his arms extended, smiling. He didn’t win the race, but he did accomplish what he wanted.

Every year the Jackpot runner is given a 2-mile lead. Houtekier finished with a time of 34:25.

“This was an experience that I will never forget,” Houtekier said. “I didn’t come across that finish line first, but so what. The best thing about this was that I was being cheered for by so many people that love Bob,”

For Houtekier’s mother Veronica, who has ran the Bix since 1986 and calls herself an ordinary mother, said she was proud to be the first person her son hugged after his valiant effort.

“He has all the love in the world,” she said. “What he did for Bob today is moving.”

But it wasn’t just Houtekier’s mother that was inspired by Juarez’s story.

Legendary runners Bill Rodgers and Joan Samuelson were also interested. After signing autographs Friday, Samuelson overheard people talking about Juarez. The best female distance runner in American history then decided to tell Rodgers, who has won the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon four times each.

Rodgers and Samuelson visited the firefighter after their races on Saturday.

“They are celebrities to me,” Juarez said. “Instead, they told me I was inspiring to them.”

Said Samuelson, “I saw that (Juarez) had the determination to get back to health. That young athlete will be on the starting line of the Bix next year.”

The two runners took photos with Juarez and signed a 2008 Bix T-shirt for him. The moment brought nothing but smiles to a firefighter that is battling to get healthy again.

Juarez hit the jackpot three times. After the race, Rhythm City donated $3,400 to the Robert Juarez Relief Fund, Bix donated $900 and Juarez met two Bix running legends.

Nate Taylor can be contacted at (563) 383-2477 or ntaylor@qctimes.com