Wiedmer: Special Olympics special to athletes and many others


Photo Credit: Dennis Wilkes, Orange Grove Center
Photo Credit: Dennis Wilkes, Orange Grove Center
photo Mark Wiedmer

Haley Lockhart couldn't sleep Friday night. Not a wink.

"She was up at 5 a.m.," said her grandfather, Gary Patterson. "All she's talked about for the past four weeks is Special Olympics. She'll ask, 'Where is it? When is it going to be here, PaPaw?' She waits all year for this."

The 48th annual Lloyd Ray Smith Area 4 Special Olympics were staged Saturday morning at Red Bank High School, much to the delight of Lockhart and 252 other athletes.

Like everyone who competes, the 11-year-old Lockhart won ribbons for her efforts, including a third-place finish in the 50-meter run. After three years of competing, her ribbon collection is sizable.

"I keep them in a safe place," she said.

Like most athletes in any sport, the Red Bank Elementary School fifth-grader believed a slight adjustment here or there could have turned third to first.

"My ponytail slowed me down," Lockhart said.

But she also said something regarding her finish that most sports fans probably wish they heard more often from famous athletes.

"It doesn't matter," Lockhart said. "I did my best."

Her grandfather might have something to do with that attitude.

"Her mother (Candy Lockhart) was a pretty good softball and basketball player here at Red Bank," Patterson said. "But all I ever wanted them to do was get some exercise, have some fun. That's what I love about Special Olympics. It's great to see her so happy."

Troy Lee Norris Jr. was similarly excited to attend Saturday, and he didn't even compete. Norris, 28, who has cerebral palsy, watched the races unfold from the edge of the track while sitting in his wheelchair, a University of Tennessee cap on his head to protect him from the bright sun.

"His mom (Debbie Norris) went shopping for him, stuff just for today," said Ragan Elliott, who works with Troy. "She bought him a new shirt, some sunscreen, some Powerade. He's ready."

He's apparently ready for anything as long as country music is the soundtrack.

"Garth Brooks," Norris answered when asked for his favorite singer.

Added Elliott, "If you try to put on anything else, he'll always say, 'Go back to country.'"

Norris also loves to shop for shoes and tools, depending on whether the retail destination is Walmart or Lowe's. Then there's the store that, befitting an adult male, really fires him up - Victoria's Secret.

"He's definitely a ladies man," Elliott said. "He's a social butterfly."

Stomach problems that required complicated surgeries this winter threatened to clip Norris's wings regarding the Area 4 Games. But with the help of Elliott, his parents and the folks at Orange Grove Center he works with five days a week, he made it to the track in time to witness the opening ceremony.

"That's all he talked about all week," said his mom. "And he had a great time. He couldn't wait to get to Parkway Baptist (Church in Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe) today and tell his friends, especially Heather Stanton, all about Special Olympics."

At a time when so many charities and nonprofits are struggling, the Area 4 Games are holding steady, chairman Judy Rogers said.

"We're hanging in there," she said. "We haven't had to pull an athlete (from a travel team) one time because of money. The donations have just kept coming in. We've been lucky to sustain these programs."

Indeed, Area 4 athlete Nicole Gonzales won the state of Tennessee's only gold medal for her shot put performance at the International Special Olympics last summer in Los Angeles.

But Red Bank principal Justin Robertson - whose school has hosted three of the past four Area 4 Games (Ooltewah was last year's host) after McCallie staged the event for decades - believes those who run the event benefit almost as much as those who compete.

"This is a big event for everyone in our school," he said. "In a week or so we'll have a pep rally for all the spring sport athletes, and we always include our Special Olympians. I think they probably get more excited about the pep rally than anybody."

There are others who hold the Area 4 Games dear, too, like Paul Blazek and the rest of the Chattanooga Choo Choo Chorus, the Grand Marshals for this year's opening parade.

So what was Grand Marshal Blazek doing 30 minutes after the parade ended?

Heading out to pick up some of the 750 hamburgers that 10 area McDonald's donated to the athletes, of course. Then, when Jim Reynolds, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's iconic "Voice of the Mocs," needed a break from his public address announcer duties, Blazek took over the microphone.

Of course, only UTC's football team and East Hamilton's baseball squad have ever previously dispatched an army of volunteers to match the 55 that Relevant Church sent to Red Bank on Saturday.

"My father, Rik, used to work at Orange Grove," said Relevant pastor Chris Stapleton, who founded the 200-member church almost four years ago. "So I've known about Special Olympics most of my life. We just felt it was a great thing for our church to spend a day with these athletes."

The athletes' families spend their lives hoping for many more days that trumpet their loved ones the way Special Olympics does.

For parents such as Jim and Patti Frierson, it's the heartwarming repetition of watching 19-year-old Anna bolt down the track, spurred by her older brother Will's and twin brother Jack's pleas to "go fast," even as they know she'll likely stop before the finish to urge her fellow runners to catch her.

For a grandparent such as Patterson, it's saying, "It tickles me to death," after watching his granddaughter smile as she tugs at her ribbon.

And for Debbie and Troy Lee Norris Sr., it's using every spare hour and every spare dime to finish their handicap-friendly house in Chickamauga, Ga., for Troy Jr.

Said Debbie over the weekend with words only the parent of a Special Olympian could fully appreciate: "God has blessed us to have him."

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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