Full Text of HR0880 100th General Assembly
HR0880 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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,
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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.
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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