Basketball Hall of Famer and longtime Special Olympics Supporter Denny Crum will be one of many on hand at the Atlantic Aviation Terminal at Louisville International Airport on Saturday June 1 when Team Kentucky departs for the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games as part of the Cessna Special Olympics Airlift .

Team Kentucky will fly from Louisville to Des Moines on 10 Cessna Citation corporate jets that have been donated to shuttle Special Olympics athletes from throughout the country to the National Games. In all, more than 230 Citation jets will carry more than 1,800 Special Olympics athletes to Iowa for the Games, making this Cessna Airlift one of the largest private airlifts in history.

Longtime Special Olympics supporter Denny Crum (shown here at the 2005 Special Celebration and Auction) will give the sendoff speech at ceremonies preceding Team Kentucky's departure on July 1.

Once in Des Moines Team Kentucky will board a bus bus for the short drive to Ames, Iowa, for the first-of -its-kind event. In all 43 Kentucky athletes, two Unified Partners ad 17 coaches will be making the trip to the Games.

Coach Crum will give the sendoff address at a pre-Airlift Ceremony at the terminal that will begin at 7:45 am on Saturday, July 1. Crum has long been an active support of Special Olympics athletes in the state, dating to his Hall of Fame coaching career at the University of Louisville. He continues to help the program and served as a celebrity dealer at a Special Olympics charity auction in Louisville in 2005. Crum will try to fire up the team before the athletes and coaches board their jets. The first Team Kentucky flight is scheduled for liftoff at 8:38 am on July 1, with the other nine aircraft leaving in 14-minute intervals.

The final month leading up to the departure date have been busy ones for Team Kentucky. In addition to practice and packing for the big trip, Team Kentucky athletes have taken part in many special events. The entire team was recognized as part of the Opening Ceremonies at the 2006 Special Olympics Kentucky State Summer Games in Richmond. Team Kentucky bowler Mitchell Walls even served as co-emcee of those Ceremonies. Several team members have made media appearances in their local communities and Larry Evans and Marcus Cooper had the honor of throwing out the first pitch at a Lexington Legends game.

Marcus Cooper of the Lexington Thunder softball team threw a perfect strike as he took part in first pitch ceremonies at a Lexington Legends game a week before Team Kentucky departs for the National Games.

But all of that excitement is just part of the buildup for the Games, which begin on Sunday, July 2 with Opening Ceremonies in Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State Campus. Competition begins in earnest for all athletes on Monday, July 3 and concludes on Friday, July 7. Team Kentucky will return to Louisville via the same donated Citation aircraft on Saturday, July 8, with the first flight arriving around 1:30 pm.

The 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games will draw more than 3,000 athletes, 2,000 coaches, 8,000 volunteers and 10,000 family members and spectators for a tremendous week of competition and much more. A Festival Village will be available throughout the Games, that will provide activities, food and Healthy Athletes screenings. There will also be several events associated with the National Games, including a youth forum, a research symposium and a Congressional field hearing.

We hope that you will follow all of the athletes of Team Kentucky as they progress through the Games. Daily updates and photos will be available in the Team Kentucky headquarters on www.soky.org.

For more information about Team Kentucky or the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games, contact Trish Mazzoni at 502-695-8222 or via e-mail at tmazzoni@soky.org.

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