{"id":5506,"date":"2026-05-29T15:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ventil.rs\/blog\/health\/frank-hayden-who-led-global-growth-of-the-special-olympics-dies-at-96\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T15:00:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:00:47","slug":"frank-hayden-who-led-global-growth-of-the-special-olympics-dies-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ventil.rs\/blog\/health\/frank-hayden-who-led-global-growth-of-the-special-olympics-dies-at-96\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Hayden, Who Led Global Growth of the Special Olympics, Dies at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Frank J. Hayden, whose research showing that intellectually disabled children benefited from athletics led members of the Kennedy family to ask for his help staging the first Special Olympics, and who then contributed to the Games\u2019 astounding growth into a global movement, died on May 16 in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. He was 96.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">His death, in an assisted-living residence, was confirmed by his family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">The Special Olympics, now an international juggernaut that provides training and competition for more than five million athletes from 200 countries each year, has made a significant contribution to the struggle for human rights, helping to fight the stigma against people with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">The roots of the Games lie in Dr. Hayden\u2019s groundbreaking work. A professor of physical education, he published research in 1964 showing that Toronto schoolchildren with intellectual disabilities got stronger and fitter with physical training. His findings knocked down common views that people with such disabilities were inherently weak, inactive and overweight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was Frank who said, \u2018Of course they can participate in sport and succeed at it and be physically fit. They just have to be given the chance,\u2019\u201d Sharon Bollenbach, then the chief executive of Special Olympics Canada, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/506912226\/?match=1&amp;terms=%22Frank%20Hayden%22%202016%20\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> in 2016, when Dr. Hayden was inducted into Canada\u2019s Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Dr. Hayden\u2019s work caught the attention of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/08\/12\/us\/12shriver.html\" title=\"\">Eunice Kennedy Shriver<\/a>, who brought him to Washington in 1965 to help plan the first Special Olympics. (A year earlier, he had proposed a similar competition in Canada that failed to get off the ground.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Mrs. Shriver was a sister of President John F. Kennedy \u2014 and of Rosemary Kennedy, who in 1941, at the request of her father, was lobotomized after exhibiting learning disabilities and erratic behavior. The procedure left her, a 23-year-old woman, unable to speak or live independently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">At the helm of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation \u2014 named for another of her siblings, who was killed in action in World War II \u2014 Mrs. Shriver steered the charity to focus on the compassionate treatment of people with intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">In 1962, she founded Camp Shriver at her Maryland farm, giving people with disabilities \u2014 who were then commonly housed in institutions \u2014 the opportunity to participate in sports and recreation. Dr. James N. Oliver of England, who in 1958 showed that offering physical activity to children with intellectual disabilities had positive effects, including in the classroom, had been brought in as a consultant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Hired by the foundation in 1965, Dr. Hayden learned of a physical education instructor in Chicago, Anne McGlone, who was planning a citywide track meet for the intellectually disabled. Ms. McGlone had asked a charity for funding, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/one-of-historys-most-transformative-human-rights-movements-turns-50\/2018\/07\/15\/21c00c6c-8081-11e8-b660-4d0f9f0351f1_story.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">only to be<\/a> scolded by the organization for \u201cputting these kinds of kids on display.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">The Kennedy Foundation had a different perspective. It provided $25,000 to expand the Chicago meet into a national, multisports event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">The first Special Olympics, with Dr. Hayden as executive director and Ms. McGlone as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagomag.com\/Chicago-Magazine\/November-2009\/Making-History-How-Anne-Burke-met-Eunice-Kennedy-Shriver-and-the-Special-Olympics-began\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the local organizer<\/a>, was held at Soldier Field in July 1968. Some 1,000 athletes from the United States and Canada competed in more than 200 events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Mrs. Shriver announced that the Games would be a biennial event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">\u201cWithin two years,\u201d Dr. Hayden recalled in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/in-conversation-with-dr-frank-hayden\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a 2016 interview<\/a> with The Canadian Encyclopedia, \u201cI had state organizations and annual state games in all 50 states, and all 50 states sent teams to the second Special Olympic Games in Chicago in 1970.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">He remained executive director of the Games through 1972, then returned to academia before rejoining the Special Olympics in 1981 to lead its international expansion. He established an office of international development in Washington, and in just a few years more than 50 countries were sending athletes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Dr. Hayden moved to Paris in 1988 to run the European office of Special Olympics International, and in 1990 he returned to Canada, where he was a consultant to the Canadian Special Olympics through 2000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Francis Joseph Hayden was born on Jan. 11, 1930, in Windsor, Ontario, the younger of two sons of Joesph and Ethel (Castwood) Hayden. His father was an Irish immigrant who worked at a Ford factory, though he lost his job during the Depression and moved the family to nearby St. Catharines. His mother, who was born in England, worked as a custodian at a church.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Frank earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in physical education from the University of Western Ontario in 1955, then, at the University of Illinois, earned a master\u2019s in 1958 and a Ph.D. in 1962, with a program combining exercise science and psychology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">As a researcher at the School of Physical and Health Education (now Kinesiology and Physical Education) at the University of Toronto, his supervisor told him there was a grant available for research on the fitness and motor skills of children with intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">Before seeking the grant, Dr. Hayden spent time in the library and learned that little had been published on the topic. \u201cI figured that I would become an instant expert and that I had a blank sheet,\u201d he told The Canadian Encyclopedia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">His 1964 research, published as <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/catalogue.nla.gov.au\/catalog\/1269945\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a 48-page booklet<\/a>, included exercise plans for teachers and parents. It sold 50,000 copies, according to Dr. Hayden\u2019s personal archives, and found its way to Mrs. Shriver.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">In 1957, he married Marion Bentham, who died in 2024. He is survived by his sons, Jamie and Sean; his daughters, Murn Meyrick and Laura Thomson; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">When Dr. Hayden was first doing his research in Toronto in the 1960s, students with intellectual disabilities were not admitted to public schools. Some parents had founded their own school for these students, but there was no physical education on offer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">When Dr. Hayden tested the children, he found they had roughly half the strength and 35 percent more fat than their peers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">\u201cEverybody said, \u2018Well, what do you expect?\u2019\u201d Dr. Hayden recalled in 2016, adding, \u201cAnd I\u2019m saying geez, if you and I had a lifestyle like that, we wouldn\u2019t be any more able and fit than they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">After athletic training, he found, the children in the study had cut the gap with their peers by half in a single year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/29\/sports\/frank-hayden-dead.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frank J. Hayden, whose research showing that intellectually disabled children benefited from athletics led members of the Kennedy family to ask for his help staging the first Special Olympics, and who then contributed to the Games\u2019 astounding growth into a global movement, died on May 16 in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. He was 96. His&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ventil.rs\/blog\/health\/frank-hayden-who-led-global-growth-of-the-special-olympics-dies-at-96\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Frank Hayden, Who Led Global Growth of the Special Olympics, Dies at 96&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/28\/multimedia\/28Hayden-01-fphw\/28Hayden-01-fphw-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v17.8 (Yoast SEO v22.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Frank Hayden, Who Led Global Growth of the Special Olympics, Dies at 96 - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ventil.rs\/blog\/health\/frank-hayden-who-led-global-growth-of-the-special-olympics-dies-at-96\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frank Hayden, Who Led Global Growth of the Special Olympics, Dies at 96\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Frank J. Hayden, whose research showing that intellectually disabled children benefited from athletics led members of the Kennedy family to ask for his help staging the first Special Olympics, and who then contributed to the Games\u2019 astounding growth into a global movement, died on May 16 in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. He was 96. 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Hayden, whose research showing that intellectually disabled children benefited from athletics led members of the Kennedy family to ask for his help staging the first Special Olympics, and who then contributed to the Games\u2019 astounding growth into a global movement, died on May 16 in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto. He was 96. 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