My Special Olympian Bowler

Just to add our two cents to Obama’s off-the-cuff remark on Jay Leno’s TV show. None in our family were offended. To look on the positive side of his remark, he has brought attention to one of the hardest working group in our population.

Yesterday, son bowled with his regular Saturday morning league of Special Olympians. His scores were consistent with his average. Not too shabby.

He has been bowling since he was about 10 years old, and bowling is something he truly enjoys. He never liked team sports. Because of his height and slender built people thought he would be perfect for basketball, but he did not like the idea that people were trying to take the ball away from each other—that’s not very nice. On the court, he would prefer someone else had the ball instead of him.

Son was also good, but not outstanding in track when he was in school. He was better at long distance rather than sprints. When he was very young (about six or seven), he thought it was nice to let others go ahead of him, and if someone else might stumble, he felt better to assist him instead of getting to the finish line first.

But bowling has been his sport of choice. He is in a class by himself, and it does not matter to him what the others score. He is able to follow instructions from his favorite coach, his dad! What is amazing is that son is a better bowler than dad. A case of do as I say, not as I do?

Next is a series of photos taken around 1977 or 78. It was probably the first time that Maxwell School participated in Special Olympics bowling.


Notice that the children were started by swinging the ball between their legs to maintain better balance before releasing the bowling ball.

This last photo shows that he was quite pleased with his effort.

The Special Olympics creed after all is:

“Please help me win, but if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt.”