1975 CBS Sports Special Olympics Michigan film

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Katie recently finished processing and I cataloging a reel of 1975 CBS Sports Special Olympics Michigan film.

Here is the description:

CBS Sports Special, a 16 mm polyester color film with magnetic sound  of the national meeting of the fourth international summer  Special Olympics hosted by and on the campus of Central Michigan University (CMU) in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 1975. This film, Film ID No. 77200-1, is housed in an archival film canister on an archival core. Special Olympics had the film digitized at an unidentified time. The footage and a description with context can be accessed at https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/1975-intl-special-olympics-games-in-the-spotlight The film, 1000 ft., plays for 11 minutes, 15 seconds. The text there notes: "Nearly 3,200 athletes took part in the 4th Special Olympics International Summer Games, held in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Athletes from 10 nations competed in basketball, bowling, floor hockey, gymnastics, the pentathlon, swimming and many other events. Global competition featuring athletes with intellectual disabilities begins to attract coverage by major media, including CBS Sports." The footage from CBS Sports shows athletes taking part in a multitude of events, including their small games clinic (events such as bowling), basketball, hockey, track, swimming, and wheelchair races. A white, male reporter is visible and offers commentary such as, "Central Michigan fans, accustomed to winners, cheered these champions as they would their own." The footage also shows Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder and president of Special Olympics, addressing the crowd in Kelly/Shorts, the lighting of the flame of hope, and baseball player Monte Irvin passing out medals. The end of the footage features a sing-along with a male guitarist singing with athletes the song, I believe in music, I believe in love.

Special Olympics Michigan (SOMI) has been part of the Special Olympics since 1968. (This information is from https://www.somi.org/our-history, accessed in June 2021.) CMU has hosted and been actively involved with Michigan Special Olympics since December 1972.  Plans began in December 1972 for CMU to be the host site of the June 1973 Michigan Special Olympics. Members of the CMU Executive Committee who planned the event  were: Chairman Richard Kirchner, CMU's Department of Recreation, and Park and Leisure and Park Administration, Donald Christensen, vice chairman and medical superintendent at the Mount Pleasant State Home and Training School; William Theunissen, Secretary and Dean of CMU's School of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dennis Iacco, treasurer and president of State Student Council of Exceptional Children. Lee Reynolds, department chair of Special Education and director of Special Olympics and Chip Saltman, assistant to the program. (This information is from CMU Life, December 11, 1972.)  SOMI headquarters moved from Adrian to Mount Pleasant in 1972, where they were housed first in Warriner Hall, later Rowe Hall, where they remained until 1988, when SOMI headquarters moved into a building previously owned by the State of Michigan Department of Transportation, where it remains in 2021. (This information is also from  https://www.somi.org/our-history.)  

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