TRIB TOTAL MEDIA SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019 · 9
SPECIAL OLYMPICS
KAREN PRICE | FOR TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
Michael Anthony (center) celebrates as he receives a Special Olympics gold medal
during the Westmoreland County track-and-field day.
summer and Seven Springs in the winter.
Worldwide, the Special Olympics, founded
by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, is
in 172 countries and is the largest organization
for people with intellectual and
physical disabilities.
Milton Claney, 77, of Greensburg, founded
the Westmoreland chapter, although
he’ll tell you today that at the time he
had no idea what he was doing or what it
would become.
The former physical-education teacher at
the Intermediate Unit simply saw an article
in the paper one day that said the sister of
President John Kennedy wanted to start an
athletic program for children with special
needs and it included an address, so he
wrote a letter. A few weeks later he got a
big envelope in the mail with a form to fill
out and it all progressed from there.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into, I
really didn’t,” he said. “And I don’t regret
it, and I did it for 20 years.”
Initially, they had to go into homes and
try to convince parents to sign their children
up for Special Olympics, he said.
The first event they held was in track
and field. He called on his friends, family
members and fellow teachers to help out.
Working in the time before computers, he
said, there were years where they’d get 120
paper entries and the whole family would
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