World T.E.A.M. Sports - Face of America Bike Ride
Address
BEGINNINGS
In 1987, Benson and colleague Stephen Whisnant were intrigued by the possibility of creating an athletic achievement previously thought to be impossible. This led them to organize the October 1987 Ride Across America, a month-long, 2,650-mile bicycle relay from Newport Beach, California to Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Benefiting California Special Olympics, the ride included 25 developmentally-disabled riders, many of whom had never before participated in an outdoor program.
The Ride Across America was followed in February, 1990 by the Kilimanjaro Confidence Climb. This event brought together 12 developmentally-disabled athletes and 15 non-disabled athletes as a team to climb Africa’s highest peak over nine days. Unfortunately, owing to inclement weather, only a few team members successfully reached the 19,341-foot summit. A 1990 documentary film of the climb, Let Me Be Brave, was narrated by renowned sportscaster James Brown. It aired as a CBS Sports special in 1990 and was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Program Achievement.
Inspired by the positive public reaction to the Kilimanjaro Confidence Climb, Benson and Whisnant chartered World T.E.A.M. as a North Carolina-based non-profit organization in June, 1993. Whisnant agreed to serve as the organization’s first Executive Director. With the new organization, a broader vision arose. The directors wanted to create extraordinary challenges while enabling athletes with disabilities worldwide. This vision led to the AXA World Ride, a 13,000-mile bicycle adventure through 16 countries over nine months beginning in March 1995. The program featured more than 10,000 day participants and 400 stage riders. A core team of seven – six with disabilities – undertook the entire challenge. The program was embraced worldwide, with most American Ambassadors and many foreign heads of state greeting the group in their respective countries. The media was drawn to the event and coverage was extensive, even during the 4,000 mile trek in Russia. Russian national television covered the event and the team was featured four times to over 50,000,000 households throughout the country. The combined media coverage of the program totaled over 300,000,000 impressions. Another highly-acclaimed documentary film was produced, airing twice on CBS, and narrated by the Emmy-award winning host, Charles Kuralt. This film, The Possible Dream, was enthusiastically received and won several national awards.
World T.E.A.M. served as the organizer for the August 1996 NationsBank Paralympic Torch Relay from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta. For ten days, World T.E.A.M., in partnership with the organizing committee and program sponsors, crisscrossed busy avenues, back roads, rivers and lakes. President Bill Clinton hosted the organizers and the first torchbearer on the south lawn of the White House on the morning of August 6. The final torchbearer was greeted by 70,000 spectators in Centennial Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremonies of the Paralympic Games. World T.E.A.M. advisory board member, Mark Wellman, scaled the steep cauldron tower and ignited the Paralympic Torch.
In February, 1997, an inclusive team of six individuals traveled to Antarctica to compete in one of the most unusual running events in the world – the Last Marathon. All members of the World T.E.A.M. team finished the event and were featured in national media stories.
Athletes from the organization participated in the four-day, 300-mile Xerox Capital Ride in the Carolinas in September, 1997. World T.E.A.M. also directed the All Sports Day in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1997. In this event, Olympic and Paralympic athletes offered hands-on swimming, running, bicycling, tennis and climbing clinics to more than 800 participants.
The success of the 1995 AXA World Ride led the organization to undertake another great challenge: pairing former combatants from the Vietnam War to overcome both their disabilities and prior animosities. Known as the Vietnam Challenge, this January 1998 program paired 70 disabled athletes from the United States and Vietnam with 20 able-bodied coaches on a 16-day, 1,250-mile bicycle expedition from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. Participants ranged in age from 11 to 78, with three blind cyclists and eight hand cyclists. Joining the riders was Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and long distance swimmer Diana Nyad, at that time board members for World T.E.A.M. Late in the ride, as the team approached Ho Chi Minh City, honorary chair Senator John Kerry and U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson joined the team.
The resulting feature documentary film about the Challenge from Chicago’s Kartemquin Films, Vietnam Long Time Coming, was well-received by critics and the public. Hosted by sportscaster Dick Enberg and narrated by actor Joe Mantegna, it aired as an NBC Sports Special on Veterans Day 1998. The film received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement. World T.E.A.M. co-chairman Peter D. Kiernan spoke to CNN Television and NBC’S Today Show and Channel 12 Daytime Edition about the program.
Nearly 100 celebrities, sports figures, and community leaders, including Robin Williams, Madonna, Greg LeMond, George Steinbrenner, Donald Trump, Christopher Reeve, Tom Brokaw, Yoko Ono, Britney Spears, Rudolph Giuliani, Lance Armstrong, Shaquille O’Neal, Elizabeth Taylor and Arnold Schwarzenegger donated bicycles for six silent auctions and receptions benefiting the ongoing programs of World T.E.A.M.. Held from 1996 through 2003, the auctions provided ongoing fundraising for the organization. At the 1999 auction, over 400 people filled the Sports Club/LA in New York City for a festive and entertaining program that included special remarks by cyclist Lance Armstrong and Sean “Puffy” Combs as well as musical entertainment by True This. The event was co-chaired by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Lance Armstrong. The May 13, 2002 auction at The Lighthouse in New York City raised funds to support World T.E.A.M.’s inclusive Face of America and was attended by Senator Charles Schumer, Senator John Kerry, Christopher Reeve and others.