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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109TH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
House of Representatives
HONORING THE 2004 AFRICAN AMERICAN ETHNIC SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
HON. BARBARA LEE
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2005
MS. LEE—Mr. Speaker, I
rise today to honor the induction of twelve former black Olympians into
the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame on July 8, 2004 in
Sacramento California. The honorees were notable not only for their
tremendous athletic achievements, but also for the profound social
significance these achievements carried.
The Athens Games in 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the first African
American participation in the Olympics, when George Poage earned bronze
medals in the 200-and 400-meter hurdles, and Joseph Stadler won a silver
medal in the standing high jump in St. Louis in 1904. In the past 100
years, African Americans have produced numerous outstanding Olympic
performances, and the July inductees to the African American Ethnic Sports
Hall of Fame are responsible for some of the finest.
Of the Hall of Fame’s twelve honorees, eleven were track and field
athletes, and one was a coach. Alice Coachman-Davis, who was not allowed
to participate in organized athletic activities while growing up in the
South, became the first African American woman to win a gold medal when
she placed first in the high jump at the London Games in 1948. Harrison
Dillard won an astounding 82 consecutive 110-meter hurdles races, a record
which still stands.
Wilbur Ross coached two of the most successful Olympic athletes of all
time. Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson. And Tommie Smith and John Carlos,
who finished first and third, respectively, in the 200 meters at the 1968
Games in Mexico City, took a courageous stand for social justice in one of
the most powerful moments in the history of the Olympics. Other Hall of
Fame inductees included Milt Campbell, Herb Douglas, Lee Evans, Edith
McGuire-Duvall, Dr. Regional Pearman, Wyomia Tyus and John Woodruff, all
of whom were outstanding tract and field athletes.
These inductees’ achievements are clearly remarkable in the pure athletic
sense, but when placed in their social context, they are even more
meaningful. Athletes has played an important role in the broader Civil
Rights movement, and the Olympics Arena has provided not only an
opportunity for African Americans to prove that they could compete with
the rest of the world, but has also served as a forum for making important
social and political statements.
Today, it is of vital importance that we continue to recognize and pay
tribute to these achievements, and that we continue to draw inspiration
from them in furthering our own work for equality, justice and peace. On
behalf of the Ninth Congressional District, I salute both the African
Americans Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame and its July 2004 inductees for their
invaluable contributions to athletics, the United States, and the entire
world.
