Jacob Kerr of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has been involved with Special Olympics for 16 years, first competing in Alaska through a middle school program. From there, he competed in basketball, bowling, cycling, golf, softball and snowboarding. He will represent Special Olympics USA in golf. In 2018, he competed in basketball at the Special Olympics USA Games and again in 2022 for golf. At the Special Olympics World Winter Games Idaho 2009, he served as an ambassador, a role he has also assumed in meeting with legislators in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Special Olympics.
Jacob graduated from the TAPESTRY Postsecondary Transition Program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, a program designed to help people with intellectual and physical disabilities to use technology in enhancing their lives. He is now employed as a dishwasher and busser at Coeur d’Alene Resort’s family restaurant, Dockside. Outside of work, he fishes, hunts and volunteers with a prison ministries program. Competing at a Special Olympics World Games has been a dream of Jacob’s for as long as he can remember, one that he will live to the fullest in 2023.