{"id":3685,"date":"2009-06-14T06:48:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-14T06:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/special-olympics-summer-games-kicks-off-with-breakfast-of-champions\/"},"modified":"2009-06-14T06:48:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-14T06:48:00","slug":"special-olympics-summer-games-kicks-off-with-breakfast-of-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/special-olympics-summer-games-kicks-off-with-breakfast-of-champions","title":{"rendered":"Special Olympics Summer Games Kicks Off With Breakfast Of Champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be a hectic, wonderful weekend at Long Beach State, so it\u2019s only right to kick things off with a nice, relaxing brunch in the USU Ballroom.  <\/span>Hundreds of people gathered to kick off the weekend\u2019s events by marking the 40th anniversary of the Special Olympics Southern California\u2019s Summer Games.  <\/span>They also gathered to honor Rafer Johnson, the man who founded SOSC 40 years ago, hosting a Summer Games with four athletes participating in one sport\u2014his guidance has helped the organization grow to where it is now, hosting its biggest ever Summer Games, with over 1,100 athletes on the Long Beach State campus.<\/p>\n

Pete Waldron, a Special Olympics athlete talked about what the games had meant to him throughout his life, and his mother Jane, concurred.  <\/span>\u201cOur lives have been made so much sweeter by the home we have in Special Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Shumard, current president and CEO of SOSC, thanked Johnson and talked about the unparalleled sportsmanship of the annual games.  <\/span>\u201cSports is a mirror of our society, and everything good and great about sports is typified by this event,\u201d he said.  <\/span>The many sponsors of the SOSC took a bow before yielding the floor to featured speakers including James Worthy, Martin Sheen, and Anita DeFrantz.<\/p>\n

Worthy echoed Shumard\u2019s sentiments in saying he thought, \u201cThe NBA would do themselves a great favor by coming, and watching these events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheen cracked that, \u201cThere are four things America has brought to the world that are universally beloved: Jazz, AA, the Peace Corps, and the Special Olympics.\u201d  <\/span>Two of those things, he pointed out to us after the brunch, were invented by the Kennedy family.<\/p>\n

Johnson, finding a moment to speak in between being honored (he was presented with a plaque signed by one athlete from each of the 40 games, and state assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal also took the microphone to commend him), stressed the importance of keeping the games vital and thriving, because of the good they do for the athletes.  <\/span>\u201cWe all know that through their achievements on the field, the athletes are better students, butter in their families, and better at their jobs.  <\/span>It certainly allows them to contribute in their community\u2014they believe what happens with them in Special Olympics is just as important as anything in sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on what these great athletes are doing on the field, as well as our interview with Misty May-Treanor, come back tomorrow as we continue our coverage of the Summer Games\u2014make sure you check out Dan Steinbacher\u2019s great photo gallery on the front page!<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

SOSC President and ex-LBSU AD Bill Shumard<\/o:p><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

NBA legend James Worthy<\/o:p><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

President Bartlett, AKA Martin Sheen<\/o:p><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

SOSC founder Rafer Johnson<\/o:p><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hectic weekend started off the right way in a star-filled Breakfast of Champions in the Student Union.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3685\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3685"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3685"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}