Michael Brannon competes in the 50 meter run.With a red ribbon already pinned to his purple T-shirt thanks to his 50-meter wheelchair race performance, William Toney was all smiles at Saturday’s Area 4 Special Olympics Spring Games.
“This is my fifth year,” the 17-year-old Central High School student said as he rested on the edge of the McCallie School track. “I’m really excited.”
A few feet away stood his mother, Latisha, and his father, Harris. When William was just six weeks old he contracted bacterial meningitis. He soon was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He’s been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
“This gives William an opportunity to compete,” Latisha Toney said. “He’s a very competitive person, and this provides a more even playing field.”
McCallie’s Spears Stadium track and football field were pretty evenly divided between the 308 athletes and a similar number of volunteers — including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team, East Hamilton’s baseball players and a couple of hundred coaches, parents and volunteers.