History


It all began in the 1950s and early 1960s, when Eunice Kennedy Shriver saw how unjustly and unfairly people with intellectual disabilities were treated. She also saw that many children with intellectual disabilities didn’t even have a place to play. She decided to take action.


Soon, Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s vision began to take shape. She held a summer day camp for young people with intellectual disabilities in her own backyard. The goal was to learn what these children could do in sports and other activities – and not dwell on what they could not do.

Throughout the 1960s, Eunice Kennedy Shriver continued her pioneering work. She was the driving force behind President John F. Kennedy’s White House panel on people with ID. She directed the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation. Her vision and drive for justice grew into the Special Olympics movement.

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago — a joint venture between the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District. The advisory committee to the Chicago Special Olympics includes Dr. William Freeberg, Southern Illinois University; Dr. Frank J. Hayden, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation; Dr. Arthur Peavy; William McFetridge, Anne McGlone Burke and Stephen Kelly of the Chicago Park District; and Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson. Eunice Kennedy Shriver is honorary chairman. Dr. Hayden was also executive director of the games.

In August of 1968, Special Olympics is officially incorporated.  Special Olympics New Hampshire’s history began at those first games in 1968.  A timeline of important milestones in New Hampshire’s history is outlined below:

1968

1970

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1983

1985

1986

1987

1989

1991

1992

1993

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020 (March)

2022

2023

2024