Special Olympics demands Stony Point Seals stop using name ‘Polar’

The Stony Point Seals’ Polar Plunge founder John Fox and his buddies to start the town’s annual fling into the frigid surf off the town’s Hudson River coastline 19 years ago. This year, however, may be the last year the Stony Point Seals can call its annual event a “polar plunge.”

To the surprise of all the Seals received a legal notice from the Special Olympics demanding the group cease and desist from using the term. The funds the organization raises at the mad dash into the river on Super Bowl Sunday go strictly to local children battling life-threatening illnesses.

The Special Olympics, which uses a bear as its symbol, has legally harassed other groups all over the country who have named their cold water events “polar plunge.”

What’s in a name? It’s the idea that counts—or isn’t it?

Stony Point would rather keep its Stony Point Seals club, but whether they’ll duke it out with Special Olympics is another story. Most folks in Stony Point and other targeted areas think Special Olympics is going “a bit too far.

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