[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A SALUTE TO NICK ACKERMAN

  (Mr. GANSKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. GANSKE. Mr. Speaker, Nick Ackerman, of Colfax-Mingo, IA, lost to 
Clint Jones, of Bondurant-Farrar to place sixth during the recent Iowa 
State high school wrestling tournament. What is remarkable about this 
is that Nick's lower legs were amputated just below the knees when he 
was 1\1/2\ years old in order to stem an infection threatening his 
life.
  Nick has always thought that he was normal: ``I used to break the 
legs off my GI Joes to make them look like me.'' Years ago Nick 
corrected a school nurse who was explaining to his friends that Nick 
had a disability by telling her that he had a special ability. ``I can 
take my legs off and nobody else in school can.'' As Vince Lombardi 
said, ``it is not whether you get knocked down, it is whether you get 
up.''
  Nick may not have won a State championship in wrestling, but for 
those of us who watched him compete from his knees, he is a real 
winner. I and my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives salute 
his spirit.

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