Founding of the Special Olympics

The Special Olympics you know today started with a $25,000 grant and just 1,000 athletes competing at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 20, 1968. Eunice Kennedy Shriver's vision drove the movement, but it took a team — including researcher Dr. Frank Hayden and Chicago teacher Anne McGlone Burke — to make it happen. By 1970, participation had already more than doubled, and the story of how it grew from there is even more remarkable.

Key Takeaways

• The first Special Olympics Games were held at Soldier Field, Chicago, on July 20, 1968, featuring 1,000 athletes from 26 U.S. states, Canada, and France.
• A $25,000 grant helped launch the movement, making the inaugural games financially possible.
• Every participant in the 1968 games received a commemorative medal, reflecting the event's inclusive spirit.
• Anne McGlone Burke submitted the formal plan in January 1968 that directly made the Chicago games possible.
• The 1970 games drew approximately 2,500 participants, more than doubling the original attendance in just two years.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Backyard Camp and What It Started

What began with a handful of phone calls would eventually change the lives of millions. In the early 1960s, mothers desperate to find summer camps for children with intellectual disabilities called Eunice Kennedy Shriver directly. Her response was simple but powerful: she opened her backyard.

At Timberlawn farm in Bethesda, Maryland, Shriver launched Camp Shriver, recruiting 34 children and 26 student counselors for near one-on-one ratios. The inclusiveness of campers extended beyond disability lines, pairing children like her three-year-old son Tim with participants during activities. Swimming, soccer, gymnastics, and horseback riding filled each day.

The counselor paradigm shifts were immediate. Staff stopped viewing these children as difficult or unteachable, recognizing them as fun-seeking kids capable of growth. That realization would eventually fuel the first International Special Olympics Games in Chicago in 1968. Today, Special Olympics International serves over 6 million people across 200 countries, a testament to what one backyard camp set in motion.

Camp Shriver operated for four years before Shriver felt the momentum was ready for something far greater. The camp attracted attention from parks departments and public schools, helping lay the groundwork for a broader movement toward inclusion and acceptance.

The Woman Who Refused to Look Away From Intellectual Disability

Behind the backyard camp and the movement it sparked stood a woman shaped by something deeply personal. Eunice Kennedy Shriver watched her sister Rosemary navigate a world that refused to include her, and she refused to look away.

That refusal fueled pioneering advocacy efforts that went far beyond camps and sports. She published a groundbreaking 1962 Saturday Evening Post article challenging institutionalization, lobbied against discrimination, and pushed for life changing policy changes that reshaped how society treated people with intellectual disabilities. She helped establish the President's Committee on Mental Retardation in 1961 and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in 1962.

Where others saw wasted lives, she saw untapped potential. That conviction didn't just change minds — it changed systems. In recognition of her tireless work, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Her advocacy began as early as 1948, when she first started challenging discrimination and exclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities at a time when most of society preferred to keep them hidden away.

The Researcher Who Proved Everyone Wrong About Physical Exercise

While Eunice Kennedy Shriver was reshaping public attitudes, researchers were busy dismantling the scientific myths that had kept people with intellectual disabilities off the playing field. Dr. James N. Oliver delivered some of the earliest breakthrough medical discoveries in 1958, proving that physical conditioning improved classroom learning among intellectually disabled boys. His British Journal of Educational Psychology study established the scientific validity of findings that Americans would later build upon.

Canadian professor Dr. Frank Hayden then strengthened this foundation with his 1964 research, demonstrating that exercise benefits extended across every area of athletes' lives. His work proved so compelling that the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation appointed him director of their National Physical Fitness Program in June 1965, directly shaping Special Olympics' entire programming philosophy. The foundation had already been funding day camps for young people with intellectual disabilities, creating real-world environments where the physical and social benefits of structured activity could be observed firsthand. The first Special Olympics games were ultimately held on July 20, 1968, in Chicago, marking the culmination of years of research and advocacy that had transformed attitudes toward athletic participation for people with intellectual disabilities.

The Chicago Teacher Who Designed the First Special Olympics Format

The person who designed the format for the very first Special Olympics wasn't a seasoned sports administrator or a policy expert — she was a 23-year-old Chicago teacher named Anne Burke. Working with Chicago's Parks and Recreation department, Burke wrote a letter to Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, proposing a citywide track meet for kids with intellectual disabilities.

Burke's Olympic-style format structured the event as a two-day competition at Soldier Field, featuring 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada. It emphasized sports as proof that disabled children could achieve and grow. That vision created a lasting impact on Special Olympics, transforming a local Chicago idea into a global movement reaching 3 million athletes worldwide and growing Illinois's program alone to 22,000 participants. Shriver's dedication to the cause was deeply personal, having been inspired throughout her life by her older sister Rosemary, who was mentally challenged. Following the success of the first games, Shriver formalized the movement by establishing Special Olympics Inc. as a nonprofit charity in 1968, laying the groundwork for its international expansion in the years to come.

The $25,000 Grant That Launched Special Olympics Nationwide

Before the first Special Olympics ever took shape, a $25,000 grant from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation made it possible. Anne McGlone Burke had submitted her proposal for a citywide Chicago athletic event, but another charity's initial rejection stung — they claimed displaying participants would cause shame. The Kennedy Foundation saw it differently, approving the grant in 1967.

What followed was bigger than Burke originally imagined. Eunice Kennedy Shriver's expansion vision pushed the event beyond Chicago's boundaries, transforming a local competition into a nationwide initiative. After discussions with Kennedy Foundation staff in January 1968, the scope grew dramatically. That grant directly enabled the first International Special Olympics Summer Games on July 20, 1968, proving that what one charity dismissed, another turned into a global movement. About 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities from the USA and Canada competed in that historic inaugural event, cementing the foundation's investment as one of the most impactful in sports history.

Today, Special Olympics continues to invest in the next generation through Youth Innovation Grants, funding 80 youth-led inclusion projects implemented across 40 countries to help create the first Unified generation in the next 50 years.

The First Special Olympics Games at Soldier Field, July 1968

With that $25,000 grant secured, the stage was set for something historic. On July 20, 1968, you'd have witnessed nearly 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities competing at Soldier Field in Chicago, marking the first Special Olympics Games.

Athletes from 26 U.S. states, Canada, and France marched together, demonstrating an unprecedented global reach for an event of this kind. Seventeen-year-old James carried the torch to light the 45-foot John F. Kennedy Flame of Hope, while Eunice Kennedy Shriver led athletes in their oath: "Let me win. But if I can't win, let me be brave in the attempt."

Every participant received a commemorative medal, and the event's lasting impact on community was undeniable — Special Olympics officially incorporated that December, pledging biennial international games starting in 1970. The event was organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, whose vision and dedication had been instrumental in bringing the movement to life. The first Games featured over 200 events, including swimming, track and field, and hockey competitions, celebrating the abilities of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Who Actually Founded Special Olympics?

While Eunice Kennedy Shriver is widely credited as Special Olympics' founder — and rightfully so — the organization's origins reflect a genuine collaborative effort. When you examine the initial organization, you'll find Dr. Frank Hayden serving as executive director of the first games and co-incorporating Special Olympics on August 2, 1968. Anne McGlone Burke submitted the formal plan in January 1968 that made the Chicago games possible.

The leadership team also included Robert Cooke, Rafer Johnson, and Beverly Campbell, who handled community relations. Sargent Shriver contributed from the earliest 1958 fact-finding trips through later international expansion. The Chicago Park District provided critical logistical partnership. So while Shriver's vision drove everything forward, founding Special Olympics required many dedicated people working alongside her.

Sargent Shriver later served as President of Special Olympics in 1984 and as Chair of the Board from 1990 to 2003, helping transform the organization from a U.S.-based effort into a global movement spanning 172 countries.

From 1,000 Athletes in 1968 to 50 States and Beyond

When 1,000 athletes took the field at Soldier Field on July 20, 1968, they couldn't have known they were igniting a global movement. Just two years later, the 1970 games drew approximately 2,500 participants — more than double the original number.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver committed to holding games every two years, establishing a biennial rhythm that fueled international expansion across all 50 states and beyond U.S. borders. That growing global impact transformed how the world viewed intellectual disability, shifting public focus from limitation to capability.

What started as a single summer day in Chicago became the largest program of its kind on earth. The 1968 games didn't just launch a sports organization — they launched a permanent cultural shift. The International Olympic Committee officially recognized the Special Olympics in 1988, cementing its place among the world's most respected sporting institutions.

Today, 4.4 million athletes across 170 countries participate in Special Olympics programs, making it the largest sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities in the world.

How Special Olympics Won the Right to Use the Olympic Name

As those 1,000 athletes competed at Soldier Field in 1968, the organization behind them was operating under a name it hadn't yet officially won the right to use. The U.S. Olympic Committee didn't grant formal approval to use "Olympics" until 1971, years after the games had already begun.

The International Olympic Committee later authorized worldwide expansion of the name under a recognition agreement, but with strict conditions. Special Olympics could only use "Olympics" when preceded by "Special" and couldn't use the Olympic Rings symbol.

Congressional approval came in 2004 when President Bush signed the Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act into law, securing federal funding and bipartisan legitimacy. Together, these authorizations transformed a grassroots initiative into a recognized international athletic organization with protected branding rights.