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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives wish to honor Dr. William Freeberg for
his work | ||||||
4 | to develop recreation programs for children and adults with | ||||||
5 | disabilities, including the Special
Olympics, as well as to | ||||||
6 | recognize the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics, the | ||||||
7 | largest sports program
for athletes with disabilities in the | ||||||
8 | world; and
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9 | WHEREAS, In 1950, Dr. Freeberg was appointed by Delyte | ||||||
10 | Morris, the President of Southern
Illinois University (SIU), to | ||||||
11 | study an area near Giant City State Park to determine if it was | ||||||
12 | feasible to establish
an outdoor education area and learning | ||||||
13 | laboratory; and
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14 | WHEREAS, By this time, Dr. Freeberg had earned the first | ||||||
15 | doctorate in recreation from Indiana
University, served on the | ||||||
16 | SIU faculty, and coached the football and gymnastics teams at | ||||||
17 | SIU; by 1952, he
would establish the recreation and outdoor | ||||||
18 | education curriculum at SIU; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, Based on Dr. Freeberg's recommendation, the | ||||||
20 | university purchased 120 acres in the area of
Little Grassy | ||||||
21 | Lake Recreational Area that would become the site for | ||||||
22 | university educational programs
involving five of SIU's |
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1 | colleges and the site for the first summer camp for children | ||||||
2 | with disabilities; Dr.
Freeberg and President Morris were so | ||||||
3 | clear on their mission that people joked about the two that | ||||||
4 | they
could "stare into a muddy stream and see the bottom"; and | ||||||
5 | WHEREAS, In 1954, Dr. Freeberg, Bill Howe, and Judge Peyton | ||||||
6 | Kunce established the Egyptian
Association for the Mentally | ||||||
7 | Retarded which led Dr. Freeberg to develop a summer camp | ||||||
8 | program for the
disabled in an abandoned farmhouse surrounded | ||||||
9 | by leftover equipment from World War II such as pup
tents, and | ||||||
10 | manned by area students from Dr. Freeberg's classes; this area | ||||||
11 | ultimately became known as
"Touch of Nature", with five fully | ||||||
12 | operational camps through Dr. Freeberg's leadership; and | ||||||
13 | WHEREAS, Since 1954, Touch of Nature has provided countless | ||||||
14 | students with the opportunity to grow,
learn, and train in an | ||||||
15 | outdoor setting in 55 educational programs such as forestry, | ||||||
16 | recreation, special
education, early education, chemistry, | ||||||
17 | biology, agriculture, conservation, environmental science,
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18 | physical education, and rehabilitation; thousands of students | ||||||
19 | have been mentored in these programs over
the last 60 years; | ||||||
20 | and | ||||||
21 | WHEREAS, By 1963, SIU offered the first "Institute for | ||||||
22 | Directors and Staff of Day Camps for Mentally
Retarded | ||||||
23 | Children" with the Joseph Kennedy Foundation for people across |
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1 | the country to learn about
programming for children with | ||||||
2 | disabilities at the camps; this was the first such training to | ||||||
3 | be offered
across the country; Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver | ||||||
4 | attended this training; she had started a program in her
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5 | backyard the previous year for 35 campers called Camp Shriver | ||||||
6 | and had a passion for helping those with
disabilities; and | ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, Eunice Shriver asked Dr. Freeberg to join a select | ||||||
8 | group to help develop a program of recreation
for people with | ||||||
9 | intellectual disabilities; on October 21, 1964, President | ||||||
10 | Morris received a telegram from
Sargent Shriver that asked SIU | ||||||
11 | to lend Dr. Freeberg to them full-time for three months to | ||||||
12 | coordinate with the
Kennedy Foundation's nationwide recreation | ||||||
13 | program; the telegram closed with "Dr. Freeberg is the only man | ||||||
14 | in the country with sufficient grasp and knowledge of the | ||||||
15 | problem to carry out this most
important and vital program"; | ||||||
16 | and
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17 | WHEREAS, In 1965, the Kennedy Foundation sent a team of | ||||||
18 | observers to evaluate SIU's summer camp
program; Dr. Freeberg | ||||||
19 | reported that "The pilot operation at SIU could lay groundwork | ||||||
20 | for a national sports
program for the mentally retarded. The | ||||||
21 | Foundation is considering competitive games between its
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22 | various camps"; by that time, children with disabilities had | ||||||
23 | been attending camping programs at Little
Grassy for 13 years; | ||||||
24 | studies of those programs and others led Dr. Freeberg, Sargent |
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1 | Shriver, and others to see the
great benefits from expanding | ||||||
2 | the limited opportunities that existed; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Anne McGlone Burke attended the training and | ||||||
4 | returned to her Chicago Park District office
where she | ||||||
5 | developed an idea for a city-wide track meet for the disabled; | ||||||
6 | teams throughout the city
began to practice for events; working | ||||||
7 | closely with Dr. Freeberg, Anne Burke developed the event; Dr.
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8 | Freeberg persuaded the Kennedy Foundation to sponsor the | ||||||
9 | program and obtained permission from the
International Olympic | ||||||
10 | Committee to use the name; and
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11 | WHEREAS, On July 20, 1968, the first Special Olympics was | ||||||
12 | held in Chicago's Soldier Field with 1,000
athletes from 26 | ||||||
13 | states and Canada; dignitaries attending the event included | ||||||
14 | Mayor Daley, the Shrivers,
Blackhawk Stan Mikita, Olympic | ||||||
15 | Medalist Rafer Johnson, astronaut James Lovell, Governor | ||||||
16 | Shapiro,
organizer Anne Burke, and Dr. Freeberg; therefore, be | ||||||
17 | it
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18 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
19 | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
20 | recognize the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics, and the | ||||||
21 | vital role that
Illinois, Southern Illinois University, and Dr. | ||||||
22 | William "Freebie" Freeberg had in the purchasing, planning,
and | ||||||
23 | promotion of the Touch of Nature Camp, the mentoring of |
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1 | thousands of students, and the services
of five million | ||||||
2 | athletes and their families who have benefited; and be it | ||||||
3 | further
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4 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
5 | presented to the family of Dr. Freeberg, the
Director of Touch | ||||||
6 | of Nature, and the President of Southern Illinois University as | ||||||
7 | a symbol of our esteem
and respect.
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