[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 17, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7936-S7937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COMMENDING DR. LEROY T. WALKER

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this has been cleared on both sides. I 
ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of a Senate resolution that I submitted earlier today, 
Senate Resolution 279.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 279) to commend Dr. LeRoy T. Walker 
     for his service as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee 
     and his lifelong dedication to the improvement of amateur 
     athletic opportunities in the United States.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. STEVENS. I have submitted this Senate resolution to commend and 
thank Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, the current president of the U.S. Olympic 
Committee, for his contribution to amateur sports in the United States.
  Dr. Walker has been the USOC president since 1992, and has been 
involved with the USOC since 1977. He is the first African-American to 
be the USOC President in the 100-year history of the U.S. Olympic 
Committee.
  Dr. Walker started working for the U.S. Olympic Committee the year 
before the Congress enacted the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. That was a 
bill I introduced in the Senate, Mr. President.
  That act marked the beginning of the modern Olympics in the United 
States.
  Dr. Walker has been the leader in carrying out Congress' vision for 
the modern Olympic movement through the Amateur Sports Act.
  He has brought the U.S. Olympic Committee from an era where its 
budget was in the tens of millions to its most recent budget in the 
hundreds of millions.
  Athletes in the late 1970's were a different kind of amateur than 
today's Olympians who are able to earn millions of dollars in 
endorsements, and whose fame is far greater due to the substantial 
television coverage that we now enjoy.
  The Olympics have gone from being held once every 4 years to once 
every 2 years, with the staggered Summer and Winter Olympics schedule.
  Dr. Walker has guided the Olympic movement in the United States and 
in the world through these significant changes and growth.
  The resolution that I have submitted mentions many of Dr. Walker's 
accomplishments with the U.S. Olympics and with other amateur sports 
organizations over the years.
  Let me speak briefly on some of the remarkable things Senators may 
not know about my friend, Dr. Walker.
  Dr. Walker was the youngest of 13 children raised in Harlem during 
the Great Depression. He was the first person in his family to earn a 
college degree in 1940.
  Not only did he earn the degree, but he graduated magna cum laude 
from Benedict College in just 3\1/2\ years. During that time, he earned 
12 varsity letters in football, basketball, and track and field during 
that same time.
  Dr. Walker was selected as an All-American quarterback in 1938, but 
kept the fact that he even played football a secret from his mother 
until his commencement because she was worried he would get hurt.
  He earned a masters degree from Columbia in 1941. Columbia did not 
allow African Americans to earn doctoral degrees at that time, so Dr. 
Walker went to New York University to earn his Ph.D.
  He was only the second African American to earn a Ph.D. at New York 
University.
  Before Dr. Walker became involved with the U.S. Olympic Committee, he 
had one of the most remarkable coaching careers in the history of 
sports in the United States.
  In all, he has coached football, basketball, and track teams that 
produced over 80 All-Americans, 40 national champions and 10 Olympians.
  He coached or consulted the Olympic track teams of Israel in 1960, 
Ethiopia in 1960, Trinidad-Tobago in 1964, Jamaica in 1968, Kenya in 
1972, and served as the head men's coach of the U.S. Olympic track and 
field team in Montreal in 1976.
  Any one of Dr. Walker's achievements--whether his own athletic 
successes, his coaching accomplishments and his academic endeavors--not 
to mention his service with the U.S. Olympic Committee--would be a 
great achievement for most of us.
  Dr. Walker has made those achievements look routine.
  We commend him today for his leadership in preparing the United 
States for the 1996 Olympics and for preparing the U.S. Olympic 
Committee for the challenges of the 21st Century.
  Dr. Walker is the 23d president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and 
truly is one of the founding fathers of amateur sports in the United 
States.
  His tenure as U.S. Olympic Committee President, and his long and 
distinguished career in amateur sports, will be capped off with the 
1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA, which begin shortly.
  It will be my pleasure to go to Atlanta on Wednesday to deliver to 
Dr. Walker the resolution I am presenting to the Senate today.
  I hope the Senate will join me in support of this resolution 
commending and thanking Dr. Walker for all that he has done for amateur 
sports in the United States.
  Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution 
S. Res. 279.
  The resolution (S. Res. 279) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.

[[Page S7937]]

  The resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                              S. Res. 279

       Whereas, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, as President of the U.S. 
     Olympic Committee from 1992 to 1996, and through a life long 
     commitment to amateur athletics, has significantly improved 
     amateur athletic opportunities in the United States;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker has contributed in numerous capacities 
     with the U.S. Olympic Committee since 1977;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker is the first African-American to serve 
     as President of the U.S. Olympic Committee in its one hundred 
     year history;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker has furthered amateur athletics in the 
     United States through service in numerous other amateur 
     athletic organizations, including the Atlanta Committee for 
     the Olympic Games, the North Carolina Sports Development 
     Commission, the Pan American Sports Organization, the Special 
     Olympics, USA Track and Field, the Athletics Congress, and 
     Amateur Athletic Union, the Army Specialized Training 
     Program, the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, 
     Recreation and Dance, the National Association of 
     Intercollegiate Athletics, North Carolina Central University, 
     Duke University, Prairie View State College, Bishop College, 
     Benedict College, and many others;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker was an accomplished athlete himself in 
     collegiate football, basketball and track at Benedict 
     College, and an All-American in football in 1940;
       Whereas, as a track and field coach, Dr. Walker helped 77 
     All-Americans, 40 national champions, eight Olympians, and 
     hundreds of others, reach their potential as amateur 
     athletes;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker epitomizes the spirit of the Amateur 
     Sports Act of 1978, the nation's law governing amateur 
     sports;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall 
     of Fame in 1987;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker is recognized as a worldwide leader in 
     the furtherance of amateur athletics;
       Whereas, Dr. Walker will be leaving his post as the 23rd 
     President of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1996: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate commends and thanks Dr. LeRoy T. 
     Walker for his service with the U.S. Olympic Committee, his 
     lifelong dedication to the improvement of amateur athletics, 
     and for the enrichment he has brought to so many Americans 
     through these activities.

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table, Mr. President.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Senator from Illinois for deferring.
  Mr. SIMON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

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