Editorial board
The Newport Daily News
July 2, 1993

It’s hard to capture a feeling, a spirit, with words. You almost had to be there for the opening and closing ceremonies, and perhaps at some event in between to get a sense of the success of the World Scholar-Athlete Games.

But let there be no doubt: By the most important measure, these Games were a major success. The fact that they will return in 1997, with a state Scholar-Athlete event serving as a warm-up in 1995, is very good news.

The measure we use is the intangible bonding between young people from 50 states and more than 100 nations. Never having met before, these teen-age athletes, writers, artists and musicians formed friendships through sport and intellectual growth.

In just 10 days, they found for themselves that boundaries will always be artificial and can be overcome when people of good will wish to do so. If all the youth (and adults, too) of the world understood this, the era of “peace on Earth, good will toward men” would arrive.

Antony Farias, a 17-year-old basketball player from Miami, expressed these thoughts well in an interview with Daily News reporter James J. Gillis.

“I’ve learned so much about other cultures since I’ve been here,” Farias said.

“I’ve found that people all over the world feel the same way I do. I want to go home, but I’m sad, too. I’ve made so many friends. This has probably been the greatest experience of my life.”

Multiply those sentiments by 1,700 scholar-athletes and you have a sense of what Games founder Daniel E. Doyle Jr. hoped to accomplish and actually achieved.

The success of the Games is a tribute to Doyle and those who grasped the value of bringing together students with proven intellectual ability and talent in athletics or other forms of creativity for a program focused as much on good will, teamwork, scholarship, intellectual growth, and sportsmanship as on winning games.

The Rhode Island Games planned for 1995 are a great idea. They will be a test ground for Games organizers and staff members, providing an opportunity to refine the scheduling and organizational procedures that can make the World Games run more smoothly in 1997.

There is every reason to believe the 1995 state event will be a worthwhile experience for the youth of this state and build excitement for the return of the World Games.

Our only regret this year is that there was such limited opportunity for local residents to come in contact with the scholar-athletes. Tight schedules and the difficulties of moving 1,700 kids offered little chance for the visitors to explore Newport and for people here to meet these young people from all over the nation and the world. Steep ticket prices for the opening ceremony at Fort Adams limited attendance there.

With four years to plan, Games organizers should find a way to give participants more time in Newport, perhaps scheduling some evening speaking programs here rather that at the university of Rhode Island, and by building in blocks of free time for these visiting kids. Several of the scholar-athletes said they shared this wish.

These thoughts in no way diminish the accomplishments of those who worked for several years to move the Games from idea to reality.

Kids from around the world who first met 10 days ago have grown close through sport, formal discussion programs, and informal companionship. They heard the music and the beat and they danced together in the aisles and at the back of the Providence Civic Center Wednesday night. All who saw them knew that the concept worked.

It will work again in 1995 and 1997.