Michael Cusack, one of the first Special Olympians who ‘made every moment count’

Cusack won hundreds of medals during a career that spanned almost four decades. He died Thursday at age 64.

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Michael Cusack

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When Michael Cusack jumped into the pool, he was all business — confident, unflappable and certainly not troubled by a pair of swim trunks that wouldn’t stay on.

So when he started to fall behind in a race in California in 1971, he didn’t hesitate.

“He just kicked them off and finished the race naked — and won,” said Connie Cusack McIntosh, one of his four sisters.

Mr. Cusack amassed hundreds of medals — many of them gold — during a Special Olympics career that spanned almost four decades and began during the first ever event at Soldier Field in 1968. He was just 12 at the time, his sister said.

“He was quite the rock star,” McIntosh said.

Mr. Cusack died Thursday at Good Shepherd Manor in Momence, which is about 60 miles south of Chicago. He was 64. Mr. Cusack, who was born with Down syndrome, suffered a stroke about 10 years ago, and his health had been failing in the last couple of years, his sister said.

Mr. Cusack, who was born in the Garden Homes neighborhood on the South Side and went to public schools before getting a job in Alsip, where he packaged boxes, sorted mail and did other manual labor, his sister said.

He loved to swim. But he also won medals in track and field, golf, field hockey, volleyball and basketball. His talents took him to Special Olympics events across the United States, Ireland and Canada — among other places.

His sister vividly recalled the first event in Chicago. A temporary, above-ground pool had been set up at one end of the field. Athletes came from 26 states and Canada.

“We were all flabbergasted by the immense event that it was,” his sister said. “Michael took everything in stride, especially when he was competing — he was laser focused.”

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke had been friends with Mr. Cusack and his family for decades. In the mid-1960s, she was a physical education teacher and taught him to swim at West Pullman Park. It was her written proposal that led to the 1968 event at Soldier Field — after then-Mayor Richard J. Daley and others saw what Michael Cusack and others could do if given the chance.

If it wasn’t for Mr. Cusack and his family “there would not be a Special Olympics at this point,” Burke said.

McIntosh said competing brought her brother great joy.

“It validated his worth because he showed the world that just because you have an intellectual disability, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have great talents and that life can’t be wonderful,” she said.

He was also a sentimental guy. He loved all things “Wizard of Oz,” his sister said. He knew all of the movie’s songs by heart.

“He would tear up at places, especially when Dorothy would say things like, ‘There’s no place like home,’” his sister said.

At Mr. Cusack’s upcoming wake, the family plans to carry on a Special Olympics tradition. There will be a basket brimming with Mr. Cusack’s medals; anyone who loved him will be encouraged to take one home, his sister said.

In addition to McIntosh, survivors include three more sisters: Maureen McCormack, Colette Cusack and Carole Cusack, all of whom live in Beverly.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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