Rico served four tours of duty in the U.S. Army before losing his leg in a vehicle bombing. After recovering from his injuries, he took up sled hockey in 2009 — despite never having played ice hockey. Rico made the U.S. national team in 2014, and went on to win three Paralympic gold medals in three consecutive Paralympics with Team USA.

While Rico is a native of Portland, OR, his grandparents are from Puerto Rico and Mexico. In 2014, he began competing with Puerto Rico’s national wheelchair baseball team.