The Society of Ohio Archivists Advocacy and Outreach Committee is recognizing and celebrating archives month through a series of blog posts throughout October 2024.

By: Stacy Crouse (Local Coordinator, Allen County Special Olympics Ohio) & Collette McDonough (SOA Advocacy and Outreach committee member).

The mission statement of the Special Olympics is to provide “year-round sports training and competition opportunities for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.” This is very true, but the Special Olympics is so much more. The athletes who participate not only learn new sports skills, but they also make lifelong friends. The athletes are celebrated for what they can do. The athletes, coaches, and volunteers all train together at practices and invest in each other. Athletes learn that they can trust and count on the coaches and volunteers to encourage them and be their biggest fans. The coaches and volunteers get the opportunity to pour into the athletes and get to celebrate the athletes’ achievements. When you can go to a Special Olympics competition and watch the comradery between the athletes competing, you witness true sportsmanship at its best, “the thrill of victory.” The athletes are high fiving and hugging each other and cheering for each other no matter the outcome of the competition.

The organization that one day would become the Special Olympics got its start in 1946 with the establishment of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation.  The foundation was focused on how society cares for people that have intellectual disabilities.  By 1962, Eunice Kennedy Shriver opened a summer camp for children “with intellectual disabilities at her home in suburban Washington, D.C. What was then known as “Shriver Camp” welcomes dozens of young people from local institutions and agencies.”[1] By 1968, the organization held its first track meet at Soldiers Field in Chicago and the organization has grown to be an international organization.  Special Olympics Ohio was incorporated in 1975 and has since made a positive impact on the lives of thousands.  “Special Olympics Ohio provides a lifetime of opportunities to athletes of all ages, at no cost to them, through the transformative power of sport.”[2]

As a coach I know that I get so much more out of coaching and volunteering with Special Olympics than I feel like I give. As coaches and volunteers, we get to witness joy, accomplishment, hard work, and resilience. We get the honor of celebrating all the personal bests and achievements as well as encouraging and supporting every step of the journey. Everyone deserves the opportunity to have their moments to SHINE and being part of Special Olympics gives the athletes their moments to do just that!

The Society of Ohio Archivist chose the theme for 2024 because we wanted to share the stories of Olympians such as Jesse Owens, but also the amazing people that compete around our state in the Special Olympics. We received many photos from Special Olympics groups from across the state that were not featured on the 2024 poster.  The following image is from Defiance County Special Olympics Program. According to Jenna Peper “this group of young athletes has been involved in the Defiance County Special Olympics Basketball program since 2011. They would tell you their favorite part of being involved is creating friendships within the program and other counties programs and being State Champions in 2014!”

Another image that did make onto the poster is of Cory Martin and Bob Hale. They both enjoyed an extraordinary experience with Special Olympic Powerlifting. The photo with three men includes their coach/trainer. Cory was also mentioned in the Sports Illustrated December 2008 issue.  This image was sent to us from the Stark County Board of Developmental Disabilities in Canton.

We also wanted to feature some of Allen County’s own.  Seth Kunkleman and Alex Hunter, who competed in Allen County Special Olympics, are shown receiving their medals. Seth won Gold and Alex won bronze, and they both made it to the state competition last year. The Advocacy and Outreach Committee is so happy that so many of you were able to send in photos of Olympians.  We look forward to reviewing all of your photos next year.

[1] https://www.specialolympics.org/about/history/out-of-the-shadows-events-leading-to-the-founding-of-special-olympics?locale=en

[2] https://sooh.org/what-we-do/

Last Updated on November 5, 2024 by Emily Gainer