The Incredible Act of Kindness at the Inaugural Special Olympics

In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the first Special Olympics at Chicago's Soldier Field. Nearly 1,000 athletes from 26 states came together to participate in the event that gave athletes of all abilities an equal chance to succeed. Today, the games have evolved into a worldwide phenomenon with 4.4 million athletes participating in as many as 80,000 competitions each year. Eunice's son Timothy Shriver carries his mother's torch as the organization's chairman.

The spirit of the games came alive instantly that first year, Timothy says, in a six-person race around the track. "The starting gun goes, and the volunteers are on the sidelines cheering," he says. "They come around the back stretch, and the athlete that's leading the race stumbles and falls." What happened next was incredible. Watch as Tim shares the whole story in the video above.

More from this episode