When about 150 Special Olympics athletes enter Dodger Stadium this morning for their track and field competition, some of their biggest supporters won’t be present.

Tim Flaherty, Donna Gutknecht, Charles Johnson, Laurie Mullen and Lis Ristau will not be in the stadium. But the dedication that they demonstrated to support Special Olympics athletes will be remembered and honored.

All of them passed away within the last year or so. They will be honored during the opening ceremonies, set for 9 a.m. today in the stadium.

Flaherty was the store director of the Fort Dodge Hy-Vee.

Gutknecht was a former Webster County treasurer known to the athletes as the Cookie Lady.

Johnson was a paraeducator in the Fort Dodge Community School District.

Mullen helped the Special Olympics athletes any way she could.

Ristau was the director of special education for the Fort Dodge Community School District and principal of Riverside Early Learning Center.

All five of them invested time and energy to make sure that every athlete had a chance to shine during well-organized competitions. To some, that would have seemed like a unwelcome burden. Flaherty, Gutknecht, Johnson, Mullen and Ristau did not think that way. And because they welcomed the challenge, hundreds of athletes got the chance to compete, to excel and to hear hundreds of people cheering them on. That is an uplifting and even life-changing event for Special Olympians.

The five volunteers to be honored today are worthy of the tribute. We hope others will follow their example of volunteerism.