YORK, Pa. — Just shy of her 70th birthday, York's Loretta Claiborne is set to compete in her seventh Special Olympics World Games.
Claiborne has never stopped, and it's been her mission to continue going since she found her voice more than five decades ago.
She currently works as the Special Olympics Board Vice Chair and Chief Inspirational Officer. It’s her drive and impact that repeatedly sets her apart.
Her passion and continuous effort haven't been ignored; Claiborne has recently been recognized as one of USA Today's Women of the Year.
Loretta Claiborne makes sure to live every day to the fullest as she continues to show the world her strength and courage on both local and international levels.
“I want these students to have more than what I had. I want them to be able and go out and, one day say they want a job, to be able to get that job," Claiborne stated.
Being able to make that decision was never something she had the opportunity to do growing up, which drove Claiborne to begin running.
When asked about finding her footing with running, Claiborne reminisced, “As a kid, they always said I could never be in anything, but I loved to run. And I had a rule; I could only run around the projects and I started with my brother. I was 12,"
Running became the young girl's escape in the mid-1960s, and by 1970 Loretta had joined the York County Special Olympics.
Fifty-three years later, Claiborne shows no plans of ending her athletic streak, instead, she has now shifted her focus towards tennis.
“I’ll be 70 this August and I still run. I don’t run like I used to, I don’t run marathons, but I run for mental toughness," explained Claiborne. "I use it for fitness, to stay healthy. It works perfectly on the tennis court.”
With being such a fierce competitor, one wouldn’t think she’s 69 years old.
“When I made the team [to go to Germany], I cried. I didn’t think they would pick an older athlete, number one. I didn’t think they’d pick an athlete who doesn’t belong to a tennis club," Claiborne explained.
Instead of belonging to someone else's tennis club, Claiborne is a member of her own. Loretta’s consistent hard work has her on the cusp of her seventh Special Olympic World Games, her first in 14 years.
Clairborne expressed that competing in her first World Games in over a decade, “means so much that it’s hard for me to explain but I’m elated.”
Between practices, she’s also working on picking up another language, and noted, “When I get off the plane, I’d like to say, ‘Hallo, ich bin Loretta. ‘Danke.'”
Dallastown Area High School math teacher Deb Gable has been Loretta’s tennis coach for the last 13 years, and her bond with Loretta goes beyond the words of the Special Olympics motto tattooed on her arm.
Gable was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, and still never missed a Zoom practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Astonishingly enough, for nearly a decade Loretta has been knitting and crocheting hats for women with breast cancer, without knowing she’d one day be helping someone she knew.
“She made me whole in that area. She always says how much Special Olympics does for her, and how much the coaches do for us, but I don’t think she gets how much she does for everyone," said Gable.
Claiborne has no plans to stop knitting and said she, "actually learned how to do it, if I were to turn blind. And that way, I can at least feel the needles,"
Loretta Claiborne donates everything she makes to a handful of hospitals and women’s centers in Central Pa., as well as across the country.