[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 34 (Monday, March 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S2376]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO GEORGE PASERO

 Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, my home State of Oregon 
lost one of its most distinguished citizens last Thursday, with the 
passing of George Pasero.
  For the past half century, generation after generation of Oregonians 
have opened up their newspaper and turned to the sports page to read 
what George Pasero had to say. As a reporter, columnist, and sports 
editor for the Oregon Journal from 1946 to 1982, and then as a part-
time columnist for the Oregonian, George earned a reputation not only 
as a respected and keen observer of the world of sports, but as a 
professional, fair, and compassionate person.
  In these days where it seems that the sports world is full of million 
dollar salaries and million dollar egos, George Pasero liked to focus 
on the true joys of sports. Let me share with you some very eloquent 
words from one of the final columns George wrote before his death:
  ``Dismiss for one evening the egomania, greed, and disrespect for 
authority that have so marred the high levels of professionals,'' 
George wrote about a banquet honoring Oregon athletes. ``Think here of 
your neighbor kid happily going out to soccer practice, all the 
basketball shooting you see on driveways, all the evenings of Little 
League and hamburger dinners, the prep football players with mud-caked 
uniforms on a rainy, cold Friday night.''
  Mr. President, I am just one of countless Oregonians who will miss 
George's insights and wisdom. Sharon joins with me in sending our 
condolences to his wife, Jeanne, his daughter, Anne, his sons, John, 
Mark, and Jim, and his five grandchildren.

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