The origin of Special Olympics Manitoba

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/06/2021 (1889 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Volunteerism is part of the fabric of the residents of Manitoba. In the world of sport, think of the many volunteers who contributed to the success of events such as the Pan-Am Games, the Canada Summer Games, the Grey Cup, and international and national events in curling, golf, hockey and softball.

The week of June 13 to 19 is Special Olympics Manitoba Awareness Week. A digital campaign titled Accept With No Exceptions: Why I Love Special Olympics has been developed to engage and spread awareness across the province. In 2013, the second week in June was first proclaimed as such to promote awareness of people with intellectual disabilities who participate in sports. Volunteers are vital to the Special Olympics program and they deserve to be recognized for their service.

University professor Dr. Frank Hayden and broadcaster and advertising executive Harry (Red) Foster led the development of what became the Special Olympics program in Canada. In the United States, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of the late President John F. Kennedy, was the driving force and the first Special Olympics were held at Chicago’s Soldier Field on July 20, 1968.

Hayden, who served as general director, pushed for a multi-sport games. Canada was represented by a floor hockey team from the Beverley School in Toronto. During the event that he thought was a terrific idea, Foster suggested to Hayden that they “should have something similar in Canada.”

Hayden agreed, which led to the first Special Olympic Games in Canada being held in Toronto in June 1969.

Here in Manitoba, the Special Olympics program got its start in 1978 after Foster contacted former NHL hockey player Ted Irvine for assistance in starting a chapter in Manitoba. Irvine then approached Dan Johnson, a phys-ed teacher at Prince Charles School on Wellington Avenue, which served students with intellectual disabilities. The first event was a track and field meet at the University of Manitoba with about 120 competitors.

Special Olympics Manitoba was incorporated in 1980 and Johnson became the executive director, a position he held until 1995. Dr. Wayne Hildahl served as the first president and in addition to Irvine, the original group of volunteers included future Manitoba premier Gary Doer, Bill Comstock, Jim Hedley, Bob McKenzie, Kim Orris, Suzanne Searle, Jim Moore, and Chryss Pappas.

In a book about Special Olympics published in 2009 to celebrate 40 years in Canada, Manitoba senator Janis Johnson, who served on the Special Olympics Canada board for 10 years and the provincial board for five, wrote that “the first board was a diverse, young and ambitious group of people, driven and committed to building SOM… I enjoyed working with them more than any board I have been on since.”

Maureen Dowds, who taught at Prince Charles, started out as a volunteer and later served as the program director from 1986 to 1995, when she became the executive director, a position she held until 2002.

Dan Johnson was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 as a builder of Special Olympics and Dowds and Hildahl are also honoured members. The SOM pioneers are a perfect example of type of volunteers we have here in our province.    

The first Manitoba Special Olympics Summer Games were held in 1981 and Minnedosa hosted the first provincial Winter Games in 1987. Brandon hosted the national Summer Games in 2006.