[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 59 (Thursday, May 3, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S4241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               KRESSE INDUCTED INTO ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, for the past 22 years, men's 
basketball at the College of Charleston has been charmed by the unique 
powers of head coach John Kresse. Last week, the native New Yorker 
earned a berth in Palmetto sports history when he was inducted into the 
South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. Coach Kresse's remarkable 
statistics speak for themselves. He has compiled a 539-134 record with 
the Cougars for an .801 winning percentage that trails only Jerry 
Tarkanian and Roy Williams among active coaches. With a December 1999 
victory over Tennessee Tech, he also became the second fastest coach in 
NCAA history to record 500 wins. That same year, the College of 
Charleston became the only team in Southern Conference history to post 
a 19-0 season. Under his leadership, the Cougars have earned four NCAA 
and two NIT tournament bids and have won 22 or more games in 17 of the 
last 21 seasons.
  Coach Kresse arrived in Charleston in 1979 after successful stints as 
assistant coach under Lou Carnesecca at his alma mater, St. John's, and 
the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association. Over the next 
two decades, he groomed Charleston's modest basketball program to 
become a nationally-recognized competitor and source of tremendous 
state pride. ``I'm not a showy guy,'' Kresse told The Post and Courier 
newspaper about his transformation from city slicker to Southern sports 
hero. ``I'm a basic meat and potatoes guy who fell in love with this 
city, this State and the hospitality.'' The home arena now bears Coach 
Kresse's name, but fans bear his testimony every time they cheer a 
Cougar squad to victory. I can't think of anyone who deserves to be a 
Hall of Famer more than John Kresse. 

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