Special Olympics Missouri's new Training for Life Campus, at 305 Special Olympics Drive, threw open its doors Thursday night.
Sure, it had hosted 49 days of tours.
But, during a dedication attended by more than 500 people in the campus' new gym, Beth Brokamp, a Special Olympics athlete, exuberantly declared the "Training for Life Campus officially open!"
The event featured numerous people who supported, were involved in raising money, and built the $18.5 million campus.
SOMO Hall of Fame member Mark Bussen, a long-time Special Olympics coach, said he helped raise a lot of money for Special Olympics and gave a lot of time to the cause - but never asked for anything in return.
That changed Thursday afternoon, he said, when he asked for listeners' time.
Bussen thanked people who kept up their hope through the years, comparing the success of the campus to several famous sports movies.
Bussen admitted he expected listeners to anticipate him saying "If you build it they will come," and added he believes that to be true but said that was only part of his thoughts about the movie "Field of Dreams."
The film features a player named Archibald "Moonlight" or "Doc" Graham, who played one game in 1905 but never got to come to bat. Later, he became the small-town doctor in Chisholm, Minnesota.
His favorite part of the movie, Bussen said, is when the little girl is choking on a hot dog and Doc Graham has to make a choice to cross the white line and give up his chance to play professional baseball forever.
"He chose to cross that line and I want to tell you that we had a whole lot of Doc Midnight Grahams that decided to sacrifice their personal pleasure over the last 12 years to help get this project done," Bussen said. "Today is your reward, and you'll be rewarded eternally for your work."
The work led to the development of the 16.5-acre campus.
It was designed to train and educate Special Olympics athletes through sports, health and wellness, and leadership. The largest Special Olympics home in the world, it stands on a former rock quarry site.
Included on the campus are a sports arena for indoor basketball and volleyball courts, health screenings spaces, conference rooms, offices, and a health and fitness center under the roof of a 32,000-square-foot building. Outside the building are a soccer pitch, a four-lane track with a 100-meter straight-away and a half-mile trail.
SOMO awarded the campus to Jefferson City in January 2015, but wouldn't begin construction until it had received all of the facility's estimated cost. SOMO broke ground in May 2017 and completed initial construction this summer.
With completion of the main campus, SOMO is now focused on securing funding for the "Back 9," a $2 million expansion on its northeast end includes plans for a law enforcement torch run plaza, tennis courts, shot put areas, horseshoe pits, a golf skills area and a softball field.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe and former Gov. Jay Nixon participated in the event.
SOMO President and CEO Mark Musso said Blunt (a Republican) and Nixon (a Democrat) demonstrated what can happen when people work across the aisle.
"These two individuals were going to make sure this campus was built - no matter what," Musso said. "They never gave up. They never gave up on me. They never gave up on our team. They never gave up on the dream that this was going to happen."
In his introduction of Blunt, Musso said a person would have to go back to President John F. Kennedy to find someone who has championed Special Olympics worldwide as faithfully as the Missouri senator.
The campus was something that - for a long time - only Musso believed could be done. But, he convinced the board and other folks, including Nixon, there was a possibility, Blunt said.
"This is something that nobody else has - here in the 50th anniversary year of Special Olympics," Blunt said. "Missouri has the premier facility - the premier Training for Life Campus. Today, Missouri goes from being the Show-Me State to the Show-You State."
Nixon said he was happy for Musso, but joked he was possibly happier that Musso wasn't refereeing games anymore, because he tended to unfairly officiate people above a certain height.
What Musso really had was the personality to own tasks he had coming at him and always maintained a positive attitude.
"In these kinds of ceremonies, the focus is on what has been done to get us here," Nixon said. "The real thing that we are doing is passing this facility to you and doing the one thing that we should all do in life - leave it better than you found it."