Del Rio law enforcement joins Special Olympics torch run tradition
About 50 local officers and agents carried Del Rio’s Special Olympics torch run from the sheriff’s office to Walter Levermann Stadium, turning a public tradition into a show of trust.
Del Rio’s law enforcement community put its support for Special Olympics on the street Friday morning, May 12, as about 50 officers and agents joined the local torch run from the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office to Walter Levermann Stadium.
The run drew representatives from the U.S. Border Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety, the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office, the Del Rio Police Department and other local, state and federal agencies. In a town where public institutions are judged as much by relationships as by enforcement, the visible turnout mattered: it put officers in direct contact with local athletes, families and caregivers, not behind a badge line but alongside a community tradition built around inclusion.
The torch run is part of the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics, a program that began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, when Police Chief Richard LaMunyon started what Special Olympics now describes as its largest grassroots fundraiser and public-awareness vehicle in the world. Special Olympics says the mission of LETR is to raise awareness and funds for the movement, linking local runs like Del Rio’s to a larger effort for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
That broader context gives the Del Rio event more weight than a ceremonial photo stop. The torch delivery tied local public safety agencies to a national network of support and to the families who rely on Special Olympics for year-round sports training and competition. It also gave local athletes a public moment of recognition on a familiar route through Val Verde County, ending at Walter Levermann Stadium.
The Del Rio torch run followed Special Olympics Texas’ 2026 Summer Games in Melissa, which were held April 30 through May 2. That statewide event, billed as the organization’s largest games of the year, featured track and field, soccer, tennis, cycling, gymnastics, Healthy Athletes and FUNdamental Sports.
For Val Verde County, the torch run underscored how Del Rio’s law enforcement community shows up beyond calls for service. It linked officers with families in a visible setting, reinforced support for athletes with disabilities and kept a long-running civic tradition active in a city where trust is built, and tested, in public.
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