History of the World Scholar-Athlete Games

"Extraordinary! I wish there had been a World Scholar-Athlete Games in my youth."
--President Bill Clinton, during his keynote address at the 2006 World Scholar-Athlete Games

The World Scholar-Athlete Games was conceived by Dan Doyle when he was studying at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the mid 80’s. In a paper written for a Fletcher course, Mr. Doyle proposed an event that would have no national teams. Rather, a girl’s soccer team might be made up of 16 young women from 16 different countries; a boy’s basketball team might be made up of 12 young men from 12 different countries, and so on.

The paper went on to propose that the event would welcome as many singers as swimmers, as many writers as volleyball players. In other words, an event that would welcome a global array of gifted scholar-athletes and scholar-artists who would come together for an extraordinary festival of sport and the arts - who would bond through the experience - and then, years later, who would return together at a “Summit” that would focus on world peace.

In his Fletcher paper, Mr. Doyle wrote, "In America, and in many other countries, we honor the great athlete. We praise the scholar-athlete, but we really do not honor him or her. The key objective of the World Scholar-Athlete Games will be to honor the scholar-athlete and scholar-artist."

The Inaugural World Scholar-Athlete Games took place from June 20-July 1, 1993. Senator Bill Bradley served as Honorary Chair and an astounding 108 countries and all 50 states sent delegations to this 12-day festival of sport and culture.

The inaugural World Scholar-Athlete Games was hailed by the media, and, most importantly, by the participants as one of the most successful first time international events ever held.

Since the first gathering in 1993, the Institute has hosted three more World Scholar-Athlete Games, three United States Scholar-Athlete Games, six Scholar-Athlete Games in Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as Scholar-Athlete Games in locales such as Israel and Australia.

The participants have ranged from ages 15-19. To date, 192 countries have sent delegations to the Games - and over 25,000 scholar-athletes and scholar-artists have taken part in this celebration of sport and the arts.

Speakers have included President Bill Clinton, General Colin Powell, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Senator Bill Bradley, Sir Roger Bannister, Mayor Rudy Giuliani and legendary athletes such as Joan Benoit Samuelson and Kip Keino. Performers at the Games have included the Temptations, the Beach Boys and Aretha Franklin, who sang with the World Scholar-Athlete Games choir at the closing ceremonies of the 1993 Games.

On June 26, 2011, 2,500 scholar-athletes and scholar-artists representing virtually every country in the World will convene at the University of Connecticut to participate in the 5th World Scholar-Athlete Games, and help launch the long awaited - and long planned - World Youth Peace Summit.

• View a list of the past speakers at the Scholar-Athlete Games and other Institute programs.
• View a wonderful - and prescient - editorial, entitled "Games Gave Us Glimpse of Perfect World". The editorial appeared in the Newport Daily News on July 2, 1993, following the inaugural, and extraordinarily successful, World Scholar-Athlete Games.
• View a wonderful op-ed piece, written by the Providence Journal’s Bob Leddy, which appeared on June 19, 2006, just prior to the fourth World Scholar-Athlete Games.
• View a wonderful New York Times op-ed piece, written by Senator Bill Bradley, who chaired the inaugural World Scholar-Athlete Games in 1993.