Wiedmer: Cut short but still Special

The clouds over McCallie School's Spears Stadium growing darker by the minute, Area 4 Special Olympics director Judy Rogers had a simple instruction for her athletes Saturday morning.

"Run fast, jump fast, throw fast," she said.

No one embraced that request more than 10-year-old Veltrez Davis, who swiftly won a blue ribbon in the 50 meters. Up by 8 a.m., and fortified by "eggs and cereal," Davis has become a ribbons machine at the Lloyd Ray Smith Spring Games the past couple of years, and he figured to do more of the same this time, regardless of the weather.

Besides, it had threatened the Area 4 competition often during the past 41 years. Sometimes it would rain before the Games began. More than twice the skies opened wide not five minutes after the final event. But almost never had Mother Nature cut them short.

Or as Rogers said, "When (the late) Lloyd Ray ran these games, it never rained."

But at 11:32 a.m., less than half the events completed, lightning suddenly flashed, water droplets fell from the clouds and public address announcer Jim Reynolds almost instantly warned of a possible nearby tornado.

The words barely out of his mouth, logic overcame love long enough to get everyone safely home.

"We hate to have it end like that," Rogers said later in the afternoon. "A lot of our athletes wait all year for this. But there are just too many variables to work out to reschedule it. We may reschedule the bocce tournament, though. We can pretty much finish that competition anywhere."

That was music to the ears of 20-year-old bocce competitor Andrew Williams, who has become Exhibits A, B and C for all that's right about Special Olympics.

Already a good enough volleyball player to be a crucial member of a four-man team that will represent Chattanooga in the Special Olympics national tournament this year, Williams took up golf three years ago with the help of Rogers' husband, Paul.

"We use USGA rules in Special Olympics golf, so scoring's tough," Rogers said. "Two years ago Andrew was shooting 120 at Montlake, where we practice. When we first started working together, he'd slam his clubs after a bad shot, like the pros sometimes do. I told him we don't do that, that we're polite and we use golf etiquette."

Now Williams slams the ball well enough to have shot at least four rounds in the 70s. Such startling improvement has him on his way to the national Special Olympics in Lincoln, Neb., in June.

Best of all, asked what it means to him to play golf, Williams replied, "It's a good privilege."

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga receiver Sloan Allison -- whose father Rodney did so much during his time as the Mocs head coach to make the Area 4 event a part of the team's yearly routine -- said the best privilege is having a chance to spend times with the Olympians.

"To see them competing like this, there's something for everybody," he said. "We worked with the bowling competition a couple of years ago. At least three or four of those kids have come up to me today. They still remember our names. We're having a great time."

Until the rain came and the lightning flashed, they all had a great time, beginning with brothers Tyrell and Connell Wilson, who've been spent the last year in two different foster homes, split apart from three other siblings.

Yet asked if he was nervous about his first Special Olympics, 7-year-old Connell replied with a smile, "Nah, because I'm fast."

Added 9-year-old Tyrell as he flashed a similar grin: "I love running."

Nearby stood 10-year-old Dylan Bates, a classmate of the Wilsons at Hardy Elementary. Supposed experts told Dylan's family a few years ago that he would never be able to talk. After winning a ribbon in the 50-meter run, Dylan said, "I like to run around a lot."

Sometimes life's rainsdrops overwhelm, and sometimes they nourish.

So maybe this one ended too soon, before 24-year-old Roddy Davenport could jam a couple of more ribbons and medals into the coffee cans that overflow in his bedroom, before 21-year-old Nathan Rice -- one of the volleyballers headed to the nationals -- could help the younger competitors rise to his level of excellence.

But the enduring message of these Games avoided being watered down for the 42nd consecutive spring.

"Be happy," young Veltrez Davis replied when asked what he's most learned through Special Olympics. "Be happy."

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