[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 112 (Friday, August 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1549-E1550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO RUDY ABBOTT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. BOB RILEY

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 2, 2001

  Mr. RILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Rudy Abbott, 
the head baseball coach of Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, 
Alabama, for 31 years.
  Coach Abbott retired this year after a remarkable career. He is the 
29th coach in NCAA history to win 1,000 games and was the winningest 
coach in Alabama collegiate sports history. Among the highlights of his 
coaching career are the fact that he led the Jacksonville State 
Gamecocks to back-to-back NCAA Division II National Championships in 
1990 and 1991 and was named the NCAA Division ``Coach of the Year'' in 
both years. He guided five teams to the Gulf South Conference titles 
and earned Gulf South Conference ``Coach of the Year'' on seven 
different occasions. He captured eleven Gulf South Conference Division 
crowns and took seven teams to championships and NCAA Division II World 
Series berths.
  Such a record is all the more remarkable when you learn the ``rest of 
the story'' that he only got into collegiate coaching by chance. 
Following graduation from a junior college in Mississippi, Coach Abbott 
had returned home to Anniston, Alabama, and landed a job as sports 
writer for The Anniston Star. In 1964, he became the Sports Information 
Director at Jacksonville State, and in 1970, he asked to step in as 
Baseball Coach for a temporary period of time due to the illness of the 
permanent coach. He stayed for 31 years.
  It is said that the measure of a man is the influence he has on the 
lives of others. Over his thirty years in coaching, it is almost 
impossible to imagine how many lives Coach Abbott has affected. On a 
professional level, he coached 24 All Americans and over 75 of his 
players have gone on to the professional ranks. But more important is 
what he has done for Jacksonville State University and its athletic 
department and its student athletes and its student body. I salute 
Coach Abbott at the end of his baseball coaching career and wish him 
and his family the very best in the future.

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