Coach Larry Dame Brings Smiles to Special Olympics Baseball

Nothing can top the smile on a Special Olympics player’s face as they walk down the street wearing their uniform with their friends.

Despite the last game being in 2014, Coach Larry Dame vividly remembers the comradery between the participants. 

“It's been six years, and they still ask me when we're going to do baseball again, because these kids in their minds, they just think that was yesterday. They think that they had so much fun that they want to keep going,” he says.

Dame became a USA Special Olympics coach following nine years leading Rhode Island high school baseball. In 2014, he was asked to get a baseball team together. 

“It was like one big happy family,” he says. 

The team practiced two times a week indoors. Weather prohibited them from playing outside. Dame recalls how committed and talented the players were. While some players had experience, it was others first time on the field.

Dame recalls, “I had kids so a couple of kids are very, very talented and all the way down to kids that never played before. I started them off with tennis balls laying on their backs and just trying to get the field trying to catch a ball in front of them.”

And there were no physical or mental obstacles when it came to enjoying baseball. All of the players were able to adapt, participate and find their place on the team. Disabilities? They’re just differences.

“I don't think they have any [disabilities] when it comes to it,” he says. “I had one athlete that had a stroke. So, he had only mobility on his right side. He would test the ball, take the ball glove off and throw it with his right hand. He did that with one hand. He just threw is just like every other kid. And the parents are all proud.”

He says, “The uniform is the biggest thing. They wear it proudly. You see it in their faces. They get so excited.”

The final game of the 2014 Special Olympics went off without a hitch. Even though Dame’s Rhode Island-based team had limited opportunities to practice, their passion and cohesiveness led them to a silver medal victory, something the players still talk about to this day. But for all of the players, parents and coaches, winning the game wasn’t the most rewarding part. 

“The kids did a great, great job. And I just think that it helps them all be part of a team that they are really proud of,” he says. 

Despite the success of the game, there hasn’t been a Special Olympics baseball game played since that day in 2014. When asked, Dame says it’s a “shame” that such an impactful event hasn’t garnered enough support to be played again, despite parents, players and coaches petitioning the Special Olympics to include baseball in future years.

Dame says, “It’s really overwhelming when you see these kids succeed and what they're doing, but the hardest part is telling them they can't do it again.”

Dame hopes one day to coach another Special Olympics USA team with his son, who has down syndrome and enjoys standing with his dad, encouraging other players behind the plate.