[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 15, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5090-S5091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RICHARD M. SCRUSHY AND THE SPORTS MEDICINE COUNCIL

  Mr. HEFLIN. Madam President, last week, one of Alabama's outstanding 
citizens and great success stories came to Washington in his effort to 
give something back to his country. Richard Scrushy is founder, 
chairman, and CEO of Healthsouth Corp., the Nation's largest provider 
of medical rehabilitation and sports medicine. He is also founder of 
the Healthsouth Sports Medicine Council, a nonprofit organization whose 
goal is to educate young athletes and help them become champions--not 
only in sports, but in every-day life.
  The Sports Medicine Council is made up of top professional athletes 
and the Nation's leading sports medicine physicians and orthopaedic 
surgeons. The group unites sports celebrities who know the importance 
of good attitude, team spirit, and competitiveness, with physicians who 
have studied how the human body works, how to make it strong, and how 
to keep it well. Under Richard Scrushy's direction, this group has 
crafted a program and message that ultimately will reach hundreds of 
thousands of school children between the ages of 8 and 18 in cities 
across the United States. It will teach kids the importance of 
receiving an education, staying away from drugs, and practicing good 
sportsmanship on and off the field.
  Last week in Washington, the Sports Medicine Council's message 
reached nearly 14,000 kids through a series of field trips to Sports 
Medicine Council shows. They were hosted by such sports figures as Bo 
Jackson, Herschel Walker, Kristi Yamaguchi, Cory Everson, and Lex 
Luger. The shows combined

[[Page S5091]]

high-technology, interactive entertainment with the council's message 
and a hands-on opportunity for kids to meet their sports heroes and 
play on a team with them.
  In a time when many of America's youth are in urgent need of positive 
role models and encouragement, Richard Scrushy's Sports Medicine 
Council is a wonderful idea and most welcome enterprise. It represents 
one of the ways in which private individuals and good corporate 
citizens can make a difference through their own initiatives. In this 
way, Richard Scrushy serves as a role model for all corporate CEO's.
  Richard is truly one of the great American success stories. He is a 
self-made man who has never forgotten his roots. Part of his vision is 
to give back to his community. In the 12 years since the founding of 
Healthsouth Corp., he has led the company to employ over 33,000 people 
in over 900 locations across the United States. Healthsouth is an 
employer of over 3,000 people in Alabama alone. The company's revenues 
recently rose above the $2 billion mark. Not only has Richard Scrushy 
been a good citizen, he has been a great asset to the State of Alabama.
  He has received such awards and honors as the 1994 Arthritis 
Foundation Humanitarian of the Year Award. He was named National 
Honorary Chairman of Multiple Sclerosis for the National Multiple 
Sclerosis Society. He has worked as a fundraiser for such charities as 
United Cerebral Palsy, the Ronald McDonald House, and the American 
Cancer Society.
  As a modern-day, ``renaissance man,'' Richard is an accomplished 
musician and also a commercial multiengine instrument pilot.
  I congratulate Richard Scrushy on his tremendous success and on the 
rapid growth and contributions of the Healthsouth Sports Medicine 
Council. His is a tremendous example for others in the business 
community to emulate.

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