'Power of love': Jimmy Erskine dies at 63, outliving Down syndrome prognosis by decades

Jimmy Erskine, son of Dodgers' baseball great Carl Erskine, who outlived his Down syndrome prognosis by decades and, along the way, became the face of Special Olympics, died Saturday. He was 63 years old.

Erskine's death brought sadness and sorrow to family and friends, but there was also joy in the victory of his long life, a life that was a true testament to "the power of love," said family friend Ted Green.

When Erskine was born April 1, 1960, the youngest child of Carl Erskine and his wife, Betty, doctors told his parents they should send Jimmy to a mental institution. At the time, average life expectancy for babies born with Down syndrome was 10 years old.

Instead, the Erskines told doctors Jimmy was going home with them, because no one could care for or love their son the way that they could.

"It was an incredible decision," said Green, an Indianapolis filmmaker, who became close to the Erskine family as he made the documentary, "The Best We've Got: The Carl Erskine Story."

In the 1960s, children with intellectual disabilities weren't usually taken out in public. They typically didn't receive an education and, if they were at home instead of in an institution, they were kept hidden away.

The Erskines took Jimmy to the grocery store, to church and to restaurants. They took him everywhere they went. "They let him fly," said Green. And fly he did.

For more than 50 years, Erskine competed in Special Olympics. At the age of 40, he got his first job at Applebee's, working there for 20 years.

"Every day that he went to work, it was just like the first day," said Betty Erskine in "The Best We've Got" documentary. "He was thrilled to go."

And, eventually, Erskine lived on his own, something doctors told the family he would never be able to do.

"Jimmy Erskine is a beacon of hope, not only to people who were born with intellectual disabilities, not only to their families," Green said, "but really to all of us."

'You tell me which is the greater achievement'

When Jimmy Erskine was born in 1960, Carl Erskine had just finished a stellar 11-year career with the Brooklyn, then Los Angeles, Dodgers as a pitcher.

He pitched the first nationally televised no-hitter, played in five World Series (winning in 1955), set the Series single-game strikeout record, threw two no-hitters and pitched the Dodgers’ first game in Los Angeles.

But in 1959, Carl Erskine pitched his last game and came home to Anderson. The next year, Jimmy was born, and Carl and Betty raised Jimmy just as they did their other three children, Danny, Gary and Susan.

Green says the Erskines blazed a trail for other families with children who had special needs. They showed quietly, through their actions, how to raise a child with intellectual disabilities.

But Carl Erskine didn't just make life better for Jimmy. He took to another fight, a fight to make lives better for all people with special needs. He was a fierce advocate for educational opportunities and for Special Olympics.

Carl Erskine used his professional baseball platform to speak out about the importance of Special Olympics and he became friends with Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the organization.

Shriver once said that Jimmy Erskine epitomized what Special Olympics was all about. It happened after a track and field event, a race where Jimmy crossed the finish line, losing by a landslide, with his arms spread out and a huge smile on his face.

Win or lose, that was what the Special Olympics stood for, as its longtime motto states: "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

"That photo of Jimmy became an iconic representation of what the Special Olympics was all about," Green said.

In 50 years of competing, Jimmy Erskine won plenty of gold medals, and those medals became a symbol of what a true sports hero was.

Whenever Carl Erskine was asked to give a speech (as a World Series champ), he would stand at the podium and hold up his World Series ring and tell the audience how much it meant to him. But then, he would always pull from his pocket one of Jimmy's gold medals from the Special Olympics.

"You tell me which is the greater achievement," Carl Erskine would say to the audience. "Which of these means more?"

"The crowd would go silent," Green said. "Then they would clap, and then the tears would fall."

'We all could learn a lot' from Jimmy

Jimmy Erskine lived a life that doctors never expected him to live. He made a difference. He made an impact, and not just because he was the son of a Major League Baseball great. He did it all on his own, said Betty Erskine in "The Best We've Got" documentary.

"He is a great man, I mean I'm serious in saying we all could learn a lot with all the problems in this world today if they would all meet Jimmy and live with him for just a little while."

In the last couple of years, Jimmy had slowed down, said Green. But still, he would help his parents. Just as any child in their 60s with parents in their 90s, he would help Carl put on his socks and help Betty in the kitchen.

"It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed," said Green.

When Jimmy Erskine was born in 1960, the average life expectancy of a baby with Down syndrome was 10 years old. By 1983, when Jimmy was 23, it had climbed to 25 years old. In 2007, when Jimmy was 47, the CDC said the average life expectancy for a person with Down syndrome was 47 years old.

"But many factors can affect how long a person with Down syndrome lives," the CDC wrote.

Many factors, including love. Incredible love.

"Jimmy more than doubled his life expectancy and was a joyous man," said Green. "That can be attributed to the love he received from his father, Carl, his mother, Betty, and his entire family. He is a testament to the power of love."

Visitation for Erskine is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 5 at Loose Funeral Homes & Crematory, 200 W. 53rd St., Anderson. A celebration of life service will follow at 1 p.m. with burial taking place in Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church of Anderson, 907 N. Raible Ave., Anderson, IN 46011; Hopewell Center, 5325 W 53rd St., Anderson, IN 46013; or Special Olympics of Indiana, 6200 Technology Center Drive, Suite 105, Indianapolis, IN 46278.

Watch the legacy of Carl Erskine and his family, including son Jimmy.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via e-mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.