CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — One of the participants in the first Special Olympics held 52 years ago, has died.
"He really was a pioneer," Connie McIntosh said of her younger brother, Michael "Moose" Cusack, who died late last week of natural causes at age 64. McIntosh said Cusack died at Good Shepherd Manor, a home in Momence for intellectually challenged adults, where he lived for nearly 25 years.
McIntosh said her brother participated in Special Olympics for 40 years, starting when he was 12 in 1968.
"His participation in the park program and in Special Olympics, really allowed him to shine," McIntosh said.
The first Special Olympics was held in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago. It was the brainchild of now-Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, who, at the time, had worked for the Chicago Park District. Cusack was one of her athletes at West Pullman Park.
"My parents were also on the planning committee with Anne Burke," McIntosh remembered.
She pointed out that, at that time, there wasn't a lot of support for families of children with special needs and that her brother really shined as a Special Olympian.
"He and all the other athletes may have been intellectually challenged, but they all had talents in some way," she said.
When Cusack was born in 1956, doctors had recommended that his parents institutionalize him, but they refused. McIntosh said her brother was a fully-functioning member of the family.
"As we were growing up, he was a full participant in our family. He had to follow all the rules, too," McIntosh said.
Special Olympian Michael "Moose" Cusack with his sisters.Connie McIntosh
Her brother's participation in Special Olympics opened up her family to so many other things, she recalled.
McIntosh became a special education teacher with the Chicago Public Schools, met her husband while working at Special Olympics and their daughter, Kate Grant, coordinates the special recreation at McGuane Park.
"My parents taught us about advocacy and social justice and helping people understand that people with intellectual disabilities are not one-dimensional," McIntosh said, reminding that people with special needs have a purpose and value and that their presence makes a difference in the world.
Special Olympian Michael "Moose" Cusack.Connie McIntosh
She said her brother was the most beautiful person she's ever known and that he "embodied the best of humanity" with his kind, gentle, funny and patient manner.
But McIntosh said when Cusack was competing, he was focused and determined.
One example she gave is her brother's participation in a swimming competition in the 1972 Special Olympics in Los Angeles.
"During the flip turn, his trunks came loose and they were in his way so he kicked them and he finished the race naked, and he won," she said.
Visitation for Cusack's funeral is Tuesday at Donnellan Funeral Home in the Beverly neighborhood with the funeral mass occurring Wednesday at St. John Fisher Church.
