[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S9424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO GRADY LILES

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, Grady Liles, the moving figure behind 
bringing the NCAA division II national championship game and with it 
national recognition to the Shoals area of north Alabama, will be 
honored for his outstanding community leadership on September 5, 1996, 
at the Florence, AL, Conference Center. He also originated the idea of 
the Harlon Hill Trophy to honor the top collegiate football player in 
division II. It is named after a former University of North Alabama 
player who went on to star with the Chicago Bears, winning the Jim 
Thorpe Award in the mid-1950's.
  In 1985, Grady helped organize and establish the Shoals National 
Championship Committee, which made a successful bid to host the NCAA 
division II football championship game. The nationally televised game 
has been played in the Shoals for 10 years.
  Grady Liles is a native of Florence and was the 1947 golden gloves 
boxing champion and the 1950 middle-weight champion in the U.S. Marine 
Corps. In 1957, he helped organize the Florence rescue squad, which was 
the first volunteer squad in north Alabama. He served as a firefighter 
for 13 years and was selected Alabama's fireman of the year in 1965. In 
1963, he had successfully lobbied for the approval of the State 
fireman's bill, which regulates and controls the maximum working hours 
for city firefighters. This bill was the first to help firefighters on 
a Statewide level.
  Grady is a man of many awards. He was named ``outstanding young man'' 
by the Jaycees in 1965 and 1967 and that same year was selected for 
outstanding personalities of the south in 1967. In 1968, he received 
the Distinguished Service Award after saving the life of an infant who 
had stopped breathing through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was 
selected Shoals citizen of the year in 1987.
  He is a member of the Florence Civitan Club, Shoals Chamber of 
Commerce, American Legion, Knights of Phythias, and Shrine Club. He is 
also president of the UNA Sportsman's Club and the National Harlon Hill 
Award Committee and chairman of the Shoals National Championship 
Committee.
  I am pleased to commend and congratulate Grady Liles for all his 
energetic boosterism and tireless community leadership. I wish him all 
the best for a memorable night of honor and roasting on September 5 in 
Florence.

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