Special Olympics Michigan kicks off 50th anniversary, celebrates inclusion
Kelly/Shorts Stadium hosts thousands for the 50th Special Olympics Michigan on May 31.
More than 6,000 people filled Kelly/Shorts Stadium on May 31 to celebrate Special Olympics Michigan’s 50th anniversary of providing inclusion and empowerment through the highly anticipated summer games.
To begin the opening ceremony, nearly 3,000 athletes paraded into the stadium for an excited and cheering crowd. As they slowly began to fill the football field, athletes hugged and high-fived each other, making new friends and reuniting with old ones.
Noel Biake, a 20-year-old swimmer from Area 27, has been a Special Olympic Michigan athlete for four years. She said her favorite part is the opportunity to meet so many people and make new friends.
“You always meet someone new, and everyone has totally different stories,” Biake said. “But you always get along because they have a disability as well as you.”
Athlete Richard Hess, who competed in the first Special Olympics in 1968, was honored as grand marshal and led the parade of athletes onto the field. Hess has been involved with the Olympics ever since then, for 50 years.
“I love the Special Olympics,” Hess said. “It’s very fun, and I like meeting people.”
Waiting to greet and cheer on the athletes as they marched onto the field, was the CMU football team and Michigan State cheerleaders.
In high school, football player and Grand Rapids sophomore Erik Ditzhazy volunteered with Special Olympics Michigan. He was happy to see two of his old friends from high school competing in the games. He wrapped them in bear hugs, even affectionately lifting one friend off the ground.
Upbeat songs such as “We Are Family” and “Who Let the Dogs Out” blasted through the speakers as the football field began to fill up. Athletes, football players and cheerleaders all danced together on the field as if no one was watching.
Mount Pleasant senior Sydney Epple sang the national anthem, and the thousands of athletes echoed it back to her, singing every word.
When the Special Olympics Summer Games were first founded in 1968, society treated people with disabilities differently than they do today, Special Olympics Michigan President and CEO Lois Arnold said.
Arnold, who was honored at the ceremony for working with Special Olympics Michigan for 38 years, said she has fought to help people with disabilities be given the empowerment and inclusion they deserve. Although she will be retiring in August, she plans on returning to the summer games for many years to come.
Juliet Dragos reacts to a check from SpartanNash to Special Olympics Michigan in Kelly/Shorts Stadium on May 31.
SpartanNash, partner and sponsor of Special Olympics Michigan, presented Arnold and the rest of the organization with a giant check, representing a donation of $165,000.
The Knights of Columbus, who have worked with Special Olympics Michigan every year since the organization was founded, also made a donation of $10,000.
To officially open the games for the weekend, the ceremony ended with the lighting of the Olympic Flame, which stood at the top of the stadium’s bleachers. Athlete Sylvia Chamberlin and Michigan State Police Officer Kevin Sweeney held the torch and walked together up the bleachers to light the flame.
For a complete schedule of the weekend’s events, click here.
Kevin Sweeney of Michigan State Police escorts Sylvia Chamberlin to the Special Olympics Michigan torch in Kelly/Shorts Stadium on May 31.
