Dr. Frank Hayden of Windsor, Ontario, a person instrumental in forming the Special Olympics in 1968, passed away at the age of 96 on Saturday according to Aaron Sousa of Global News on Monday. Hayden earned his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was the director of the School of Physical Education and Athletics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario starting in 1975.
The majority of Hayden’s research was about disabled children, and believed that physical fitness for children with intellectual disabilities would generate benefits. Hayden teamed up with Eunice Kennedy Shriver to create an international multi-sports competition known as the Summer Special Olympics World Games, with the first competition taking place in Chicago.
Then 10 years later the first Winter Special Olympics World Games took place in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1977. There has been one Winter Special Olympics in Canada. That was in Collingwood and Toronto, Ontario, in 1997.
In 2016, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Hayden for the Canadian Encyclopedia. For a historical overview of the Special Olympic movement in Canada, please click here.
Hayden was named an Officer to the Order of Canada in 2000. He received the Order of Ontario in 2012, was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2016, and inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
