ISU Is Headquarters For Illinois Special Olympics

Illinois State University has been selected as the site for permanent state headquarters of the Illinois Special Olympics, according to Chuck Stephens, newly appointed state director of the nationwide sports and athletic training program for the mentally handicapped. "ISU was selected as the site for state headquarters because it offers us more in terms of total program support than the other major universities with whom we talked and it is centrally located" Stephens said, adding that he will be holding the first state-wide meet here in June, 1978.

Currently, it is estimated that Illinois Special Olympics involves participation by just over 8,000 retarded persons from eight years of age through adult.

The first Special Olympics event was held in the Chicago Park District's Soldier Field in 1968 and is the outgrowth of early work in the field of "therapeutic" recreation by Dr. William Freeburg and others at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

There are year-round programs in all 50 states and 18 foreign countries that involve over a half million retarded persons.

Stephens said his major emphasis will be the development of local programs throughout Illinois. To help this local development he hopes to enlist the support of school systems, Y's, local recreation departments, the universities and the Illinois Therapeutic Recreation Section of the Illinois Park and Recreation Assn. Stephens, who is a member of the professional technical staff of the Special Education Department, said he probably will be involved in teaching at ISU.

Stephens came to ISU from the post of assistant state director of Florida Special Olympics. He holds a master's degree in physical education for the physically handicapped from the University of South Florida and has been a teacher and perceptualmotor consultant in Florida public schools.

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Toalson Elected To APRS

Robert F. Toalson, General Manager of the Champaign Park District, has been elected President-elect of the American Park and Recreation Society (APRS), a professional branch of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

Mr. Toalson has a B.A. Degree from the University of Kansas and an M.S. Degree from Indiana University. He was a former Director of Recreation in Oak Park, Illinois, and served as a National Recreation Association intern in Philadelphia, Pa. He has served as a visiting lecturer at Illinois, Indiana and Oregon State Universities; Member, APRS Board of Directors; APRS Executive Committee; Member, NRPA Board of Trustees; Chairman, Congress Program Committee; Member, Board of Directors and" President, IPRA; Member, Planning Committee, Pokagon Park Training Institute; Member, Dean's Search Committee, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Indiana University; Instructor for International City Management Association in Recreation Administration. Recipient of APRS Distinguished Fellow Award, he currently serves on the NRPA Committee for Communications and Information.

The APRS branch of NRPA is made up of professionals and associates from diverse park and recreation specialties within federal, county, local and special district governments, private industry, and voluntary agencies.

The NRPA is an independent, nonprofit association with a membership of 18,000 people and institutions. It is dedicated to the provision of positive leisure activities and opportunities and a better quality of life for all citizens. The Association is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

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Bannon Is SPRE President

Joseph J. Bannon, Professor and Head of the Department of Leisure Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has been elected President of the Society of Park and Recreation Educators (SPRE), which is a professional branch of the NRPA.

Dr. Bannon received his B.S. degree from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, and his Masters of Science and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois. He has served as Superintendent of Recreation in Leonia, New Jersey; General Superintendent of Topeka, Kansas, Recreation Commission; and as Chief of the Office of Recreation and Park Resources at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Bannon has served on numerous state and national offices. Some of these include: Vice President of New Jersey Recreation and Park Society, President of the Kansas Recreation Society, Chairman of the Great Lakes and Middle Atlantic District Councils, and a member of the Midwest District Council, Chairman of the National Council, and has served on the Board of Trustees of NRPA.

Some of his committee assignments have included: NRPA Board of Trustees Public Relations Committee, NRPA National Issues Committee; NRPA Constitution and By-laws Committee Chairman, SPRE Committee on Higher Education; Chairman, SPRE Park and Recreation Education and the Community College Mini-Conference. Dr. Bannon is the author of many articles and two textbooks: Problem Solving in Recreation and Parks (1972) and Leisure Resources-Its Comprehensive Planning (January, 1976). He served as senior author and editor of the text, Outreach: Extending Community Services (1973).

He has received a number of grants from the Division of Manpower Development to study leisure services to the disadvantaged. He has received Outstanding Service Awards from the States of Kansas, Illinois and New Jersey, and from the NRPA. In 1975 he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Park and Recreation Society.

The SPRE branch include college and university faculty, administration, extension service, or those engaged in research related to parks and recreation, leisure, and conservation.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 26 November/December, 1977