1979 15c Special Olympics

Issued on August 9, 1979, in Brockport, New York — the host city of the 5th International Special Olympics Games — this 15-cent stamp honors the athletes and the organization that gave them a place to compete. Designed by Jeff Cornell and issued in sheets of 50, the stamp shows a young athlete holding a gold medal, with the words "Skill, Sharing, Joy" across the bottom — the three values at the heart of the Special Olympics mission. The first day city was chosen to coincide directly with the games being held on the campus of the State University of New York at Brockport from August 8 through 13, 1979.

The Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, whose sister Rosemary had an intellectual disability. Shriver began hosting a summer day camp for children with intellectual disabilities at her Maryland home in 1962, and the idea grew from there. The first International Special Olympics Games were held on July 20, 1968, at Soldier Field in Chicago, a joint venture between the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and the Chicago Park District. About 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada competed that day in track and field, swimming, and floor hockey. The Special Olympics athlete's oath, introduced by Shriver at those first games, is "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

By the time this stamp was issued, Special Olympics had grown into a worldwide movement operating across dozens of countries. The U.S. Olympic Committee had granted official approval to use the name "Olympics" in 1971, a recognition of the organization's legitimacy and reach.