[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S9820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            SPECIAL OLYMPICS

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, we have all looked with awe and 
admiration toward the playing fields of Connecticut and the largest 
sporting event in world this year--the Special Olympics World Games.
  We all know that this singular event is the product of a visionary 
mind and an energetic spirit, both in the person of Eunice Kennedy 
Shriver. It was she who dreamed the dream and did the hard work 
necessary to make that dream come true. Thousands are now involved, but 
it was Eunice Shriver who made Special Olympics a vital, reliable part 
of lives that otherwise would have lacked focus and achievement.
  People from my State have come east to participate, and today I rise 
to honor Larenson Henderson and the basketball players of Team New 
Mexico from Shiprock. This is an all-Navajo team, Mr. President, the 
first completely American Indian team in any sport in the history of 
the Special Olympics.
  The New York Times had a story on this outstanding group of young 
men, and quoted their coach as saying, `` `They have heart,' '' and 
indeed they do. Heart is the tie that binds all Special Olympic 
athletes, and it is the driving force behind the Games themselves.
  We've seen wonderful things happen in New Haven during these Special 
Olympics, but perhaps the best is yet to come. One of the Navajo 
players said, ``Losing these games doesn't bother me. We're playing 
with the best teams. It gives us more confidence just playing them.''
  Mr. President, I'd say it makes us all proud that this excellent 
program has produced such an attitude through an atmosphere of healthy 
competition guided by the simple creed of doing one's best. Eunice 
Shriver and all associated with this fine effort deserve our warmest 
thanks and praise for helping these athletes win by simply giving them 
the means to try.


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