Special Olympics Indiana

Special Olympics Indiana (SOIN) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Indianapolis. It provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Founded in 1969, the organization emerged shortly after the creation of the global Special Olympics movement. With its launch, Indiana became one of the first states to establish a statewide program of this type.

The origins of SOIN came when educators at Indiana State University in Terre Haute helped to organize the state’s first Olympic-style games. Held on June 6, 1969, the event took place less than a year after the inaugural international Special Olympics. The inaugural games in Terre Haute were well received, leading planners to form a more permanent organization meant to foster year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. These early efforts built on Indiana’s longstanding tradition of robust amateur and community-based sports initiatives.

SOIN operates as part of the international Special Olympics network, which was founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Like its parent organization, the Indiana program uses sport as a means to promote inclusion, health, and personal development for people with intellectual disabilities. The organization aims to challenge stereotypes about the community it serves through athletic competition and opportunities for participants to develop and demonstrate physical fitness, courage, and local social connections.

Since its founding, SOIN has expanded significantly. One important Initiative in this area includes Unified Sports, where individuals with and without intellectual disabilities compete together, and a series of Unified Champion Schools that foster the program. Access to the Champion Sports program in Indianapolis expanded in 2025, when the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) joined SOIN at a Unified Champion School, offering opportunities to IPS students who previously could not compete in SOIN games due to lack of needed equipment, venues, or coaching. Additional programs focus on health screenings, leadership development, youth engagement, community-based fitness opportunities, and school inclusion efforts.

As of 2026, SOIN serves about 20,000 athletes and Unified partners across the state, supported by approximately 10,000 coaches and volunteers. Programming is offered at no cost in more than twenty Olympic-type sports, reaching participants in nearly seventy county programs throughout the state. Athletes compete through a tiered system that includes local, area, and state-level competitions. The annual Summer Games in Terre Haute continue to serve as a centerpiece event.

SOIN relies entirely on donations from individuals, corporations, and community partners to sustain its operations. Three of the biggest SOIN fundraisers have been the Save Arnold Games (held from 1981 to 2006), the Annual Polar Plunge (begun in 2000), and the Annual Plane Pull Challenge (launched in 2001). The first of these was hosted by Mari Hulman, chairperson of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as part of the Indianapolis 500’s opening weekend festivities. At the 1981 inaugural event, Hulman jokingly threatened to barbeque her pet pig, Arnold, unless a designated amount of money was raised for SOIN. Across the twenty-five years of the Save Arnold Games, Hulman raised close to $1.5 million for SOIN. By 2025, twenty statewide Polar Plunges, with Indianapolis events taking place at Eagle Creek Reservoir (see Eagle Creek Park), Geist Reservoir, and Butler University, had raised approximately $11.4 million. The Plane Pull Challenge occurs annually at the Indianapolis FedEx Express National Hub, with total contributions from 2001 to 2025 in the vicinity of $3.6 million.

Originally headquartered in Terre Haute, SOIN moved its administrative offices to Indianapolis in 1990. From this base, SOIN coordinates a network of area and county programs that empower participants to lead active and fulfilling lives in most parts of the state.

Across its existence, Special Olympics Indiana has made influential contributions to the social fabric of Indianapolis and the surrounding state. It remains a distinctive organization within Indiana due to its unique combination of sports training and competition with advocacy and community engagement.

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