Special Olympics Mississippi will host a Unified Egg Bowl with teams from Ole Miss and Mississippi State today. Participants were invited by coach Hugh Freeze to visit the Ole Miss football team Thursday. Photo by Emily Bryant
Although the Egg Bowl seems to divide our state between Ole Miss and Mississippi State students each year, this year, the Special Olympics Mississippi will “unify” the two schools in an effort to put on the Unified Egg Bowl today.
This event will consist of Special Olympics athletes participating in a flag football game with other college students from Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Emily Bryant, a junior majoring in special education at Ole Miss, is the student contact at Ole Miss for the event and provided insight into what the Unified Egg Bowl will bring.
“The Unified Egg Bowl is a fundraiser to bring Special Olympics programs to Ole Miss and Mississippi State,” Bryant said. “These programs will create an awareness and understanding of people who have mental disabilities, as well as unify everyone – with or without mental disabilities.”
Jim Beaugez, director of public relations and communications for Special Olympics Mississippi spoke about why the Unified Egg Bowl originated this year.
“With all the success both Ole Miss and MSU have had in football this year, there is a spotlight on Mississippi, and we can choose how the world sees us,” Beaugez said. “We want to present a state that is unified even on one of its most divided occasions – the Egg Bowl – all in the spirit of supporting Special Olympics athletes and our mission.”
Bryant said support from the Ole Miss student body and athletics is very strong.
“The men from Kappa Alpha Order are providing traditional players to compete on Wednesday. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to come and support the Ole Miss team,” Bryant said.
Drew Coker, a member of Kappa Alpha and senior history major, has enjoyed being a part of the preparations for the event thus far.
“This is the inaugural Unified Egg Bowl. This event is important to me because it holds a special place in my heart,” Coker said. “My uncle had special needs, and I have a dear friend who has Down syndrome. This has been so rewarding because of the smiles that these guys have in their faces the whole time, and as long as we continue to have fun, we will be the winners of this Egg Bowl as far as I’m concerned, although a victory wouldn’t be too bad either.”
Matthew Oellerich, junior accountancy major and 2015 president for Kappa Alpha, also weighed in on what the Unified Egg Bowl means to the men of Kappa Alpha.
“Many of us have gotten so much enjoyment out of sports our whole life, and we wanted to share that enjoyment with a group of guys who don’t get to participate at the same level and frequency as we do,” Oellerich said. “The Unified Egg Bowl is a great way to give our time and efforts to a special event and a special group of people. It has been a privilege to spend time around this group of young men, and through the time spent with them, we have learned so much and built incredible friendships.”
Furthermore, coach Hugh Freeze and many members of the football team have been involved in supporting the event. Redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Buchanan and sophomore tight end Evan Ingram went to watch the first practice for the Ole Miss team.
The overall goal of this event is to raise funds to start Special Olympics programs on the Ole Miss and Mississippi State campuses. As an added bonus for the game, whichever school raises the most funds will get a 3-point starting advantage at the beginning of the Unified Egg Bowl game.
Beaugez also added how successful fundraising has been thus far for the event.
“As of right now, the schools are neck and neck with a total of $8,035 raised, and MSU has a slim lead with $4,020,” Beaugez said. “The lead has gone back and forth, just as you would expect from a shootout between two of the nation’s top teams. This is seed money for the programs, and we didn’t go into the event with huge expectations. The immediate, positive reaction from the schools helped us a lot. From leadership to faculty and students, everyone has been supportive of our efforts.”
Tony Bahou, president and CEO of Special Olympics Mississippi, spoke about the importance of the Unified Egg Bowl for the future goals of Special Olympics Mississippi on college campuses.
“Our goal is to develop future volunteers and leaders for Special Olympics in Mississippi overall,” Bahou said.
Bahou also said that the Special Olympics has implemented special programs with over 50 other sites on college campuses around the country and hopes this strategy will thrive at Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
“We want to foster a growing relationship between college kids and athletes with intellectual disabilities, so that our athletes can feel like part of the community,” Bahou said.
He added that college communities are unique in that athletics are a very large part of the environment, and any way for the Special Olympics athletes to feel like a part of that aspect of the community with efforts like the Unified Egg Bowl will allow them to feel included.
The game will be at 3 p.m. today at the campus Sports Clubs fields at Mississippi State in Starkville. To find more information about the Unified Egg Bowl or to donate to the cause, visit the website at www.specialolympicsms.org/unified-egg-bowl.
