Special Olympics torch visits Modesto on way to L.A.

In welcoming to Modesto a final-leg team of the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run, police Chief Galen Carroll noted that law enforcement officers share a bond with Special Olympians: athleticism.

“These may be special athletes, but they’re athletes,” he said to a crowd gathered at Tenth Street Plaza after a team of runners led by the torch bearer arrived from beyond the police station several blocks away. “A lot in law enforcement were athletes when they came up and (before they) got old – um, older – and they still try to be weekend warriors. But that’s the bond, is they’re both athletes.”

Backed by dozens of runners – Special Olympians, law enforcement officers and supporters who are carrying the Flame of Hope to the World Games in Los Angeles – Carroll said the Law Enforcement Torch Run began in Kansas City, Kan., in 1981 when a small group of police officers raised a few hundred dollars. Since then, he said, the effort has generated more than $500 million to benefit local Special Olympics programs.

Corporate sponsors such as Bank of America play a big part, but law enforcement agencies have come up with a variety of challenges and benefit events. In some cities, chiefs have rappelled from buildings as fundraisers – something Carroll said he will not be doing. In Stanislaus County, law enforcement agencies donate to Special Olympics through annual Tip-A-Cop events, at which officers collect tips after serving diners at restaurants such as Texas Roadhouse and Red Robin.

Representing Bank of America, Scott MacDonald, a senior vice president with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in Modesto, commended the Special Olympians. They’re special, he said, not because of their limitations but their expectations “to strive in the Olympic venue and emerge victorious.”

Several athletes who will participate in the World Games, which run July 25 through Aug. 12 in Los Angeles, were among the runners who arrived in Modesto. Josh Norris, a “global ambassador” who’s been in Special Olympics for 13 years, spoke for them.

“I am so honored to run alongside law enforcement officers from around the world who are committed to raising awareness of Special Olympics,” said the 24-year-old, who lettered in track and cross country in high school. Running as an equal with the law enforcement officers on the team, he said, is an extension of his time participating in sports in his hometown of Blacksburg, Va., where he competed alongside student athletes who were his mentors and friends.

Norris has participated in basketball, bowling, swimming, softball and downhill skiing, but said his passion is running. Since finishing high school, he has run three marathons, he said. Of the upcoming games, he said, “Win or lose, each athlete will be striving for a personal best and will experience success.”

John Wray, Stanislaus County area director of Special Olympics Northern California, said no local athletes are in the World Games this year, but they’re looking forward to future participation. Special Olympics, he said, has “changed perceptions of this population. We now embrace these individuals into our population and honor them as we do today.”

Lt. Steve Bonini of the El Cerrito Police Department is the sole California law enforcement officer with the final-leg team that came through Modesto. His is the “Route 1” team (there are three final-leg routes being taken from Sacramento to Los Angeles), which initially went north to Lake Tahoe and now is weaving its way southwest and southeast.

Bonini is a “guardian” of the team’s Flame of Hope, which was lighted in Greece and has remained lighted as it crossed the ocean to the U.S. and made its way across the country. When not being carried by runners, the torch is contained in support vehicles with officers charged with keeping it lighted.

The torch runs are being held in communities, not from city to city, Bonini said. His team’s longest run has been 2.2 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge. More typical are roughly half-mile runs in smaller cities such as Modesto.

The final-leg schedule of the Law Enforcement Torch run is at www.la2015.org/about-games/letr. The team that left Modesto was headed to Scotts Valley and was scheduled to reach San Luis Obispo by evening.

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Special Olympics torch visits Modesto on way to L.A.."