[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 107 (Wednesday, July 31, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7734-S7735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IRV KUPCINET: 90 YEARS OF A CHICAGO INSTITUTION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a Chicago 
institution and a good friend, Irv Kupcinet, on the occasion of his 
90th birthday on July 31, and to pay tribute to his outstanding 
contributions to the veterans of the Chicago area. While best known for 
his work in journalism, Kup has also dedicated a major part of his life 
to serving his community's veterans.
  Born in 1912, Irv grew up in Chicago. Early on, he had a job cleaning 
Pullman Co. railroad cars so that he could earn money to attend 
college. He went on to receive his journalism degree from the 
University of North Dakota in 1934. While in college, he was involved 
as both the director of athletic publicity and as the quarterback of 
the football team. So, during the week, he wrote about sports and on 
Saturday, he played them. Initially he was headed toward a future in 
football. He was even selected for the 1935 College All-Star football 
team, which led him to begin a short career in professional football 
with the Philadelphia Eagles.
  However, a shoulder injury led him to a new path in life, as he 
shifted from sports player to sports writer. Kup began as a writer for 
the Chicago Times in 1935. Chicago readers have been enjoying the 
writings of ``Kup'' ever since. After all these years, Irv still writes 
``Kup's Column'' in the Chicago Sun-Times today.
  Additionally, Kup broadcast Chicago Bears games on the radio for 24 
years with another Chicago icon, Jack Brickhouse. In 1959, he debuted 
his own local television talk show which ran for 27 years. He has been 
honored with the coveted Peabody Award and has won a total of 16 local 
Emmy awards for his show.
  Irv has been inducted into two halls of fame--one for journalism and 
one for Chicago sports. And, he also is recognized in the Hall of Fame 
at the University of North Dakota and the National Jewish Hall of Fame. 
In 1986, the Wabash Avenue Bridge in Chicago officially became the Irv 
Kupcinet Bridge in honor of his 50 years with the Chicago Sun-Times.
  One of the things that has always impressed me about Kup is that 
despite all of his endeavors in sports and in journalism, he always 
made time to give back to his community, to give back to Chicago. That 
is what truly puts Irv Kupcinet in a league of his own. He is the 
founder and the host of the annual Chicago Sun-Times Purple Heart 
Cruise for veterans, which began in 1945 and continues today.
  At the end of World War II, Irv wanted to recognize the soldiers who 
risked their lives for their fellow Americans. He found a way to do so 
in conjunction with the Purple Heart veterans organization. The 
Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A. is a Congressionally 
chartered national service organization for veterans that offers 
educational programs, outreach programs, computer training courses, and 
a long list of other programs aimed at serving our country's veterans. 
Illinois, alone, has over 860 Purple Heart veterans. With the Purple 
Heart and the Chicago Sun-Times, Irv has hosted this annual cruise. He 
said in his autobiography that his cruise ``celebrates the veterans of 
all our wars, men and women who put their lives on the line so that the 
rest of us could live in peace and freedom.'' In a sense, this cruise 
is a reprise of the USO servicemen club, a one

[[Page S7735]]

day floating revival held each year sometime between Pearl Harbor and 
V-J Day. The veterans who attend the cruise leave with no less than 50 
gifts when they step off the boat. That is a small gift compared to the 
sacrifices each veteran made for his or her country. Through Kup's 
initiative with the Purple Heart Cruise, Chicago is the only city that 
shows this brand of gratitude to our veterans. Irv has been recognized 
with the General John Logan Chicago Patriot Award for his service for 
the Purple Heart cruises.
  Kup, on his 90th birthday and every day, serves as a role model to 
all who read his column, listened to his television and radio 
broadcasts, followed his sports career, and benefit today from his many 
good works.
  A few weeks ago it was my good fortune to be invited to join Kup and 
his buddies for their Saturday brunch at a Michigan Avenue hotel. It 
was a great gathering of old friends, swapping stories, telling jokes 
and celebrating good times in life.
  I extend my sincere congratulations to Kup on his 90th birthday, 
thank him for the difference he has made in his hometown of Chicago and 
ask that a great column by Bob Greene, written in his honor, be printed 
in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  The Deadline Dash: Kup Is Turning 90

       I suppose stranger things have happened than this--a column 
     in the Sunday Tribune celebrating and praising a columnist 
     for the Sun-Times--but special moments call for special 
     gestures. Kup is about to turn 90.
       Irv Kupcinet's 90th birthday is on the last day of this 
     month. Kup's Column is now in its 60th year--he began writing 
     it in 1943. He lost his dear wife Essee last year, and his 
     health has not been so great, but he is as much a part of 
     Chicago as . . .
       Well, I was going to say as much a part of Chicago as the 
     John Hancock Center, but Kup's Column was around way before 
     the Hancock was constructed. I was going to say as much a 
     part of Chicago as the Wrigley Building, but Kup was born 
     years before the Wrigley went up. In the end, there is no 
     comparison. You properly say that a person or an object is as 
     much a part of Chicago as Kup, not the other way around.
       He has always loved this city so. The son of a bakery truck 
     driver, Kup set for himself a work ethic that is phenomenal. 
     When he attended the University of North Dakota and played 
     quarterback on its football team, he also served as the 
     university's director of athletic publicity, writing press 
     releases during the week and leading the team on Saturdays. 
     The late Gene Siskel and I would often marvel to each other 
     about Kup's work schedule. In essence, during his peak years, 
     Kup worked a nine-day week: He wrote six newspaper columns a 
     week, skipping only Saturdays; he taped his ``Kup's Show'' 
     television program over two days; and on Sundays during 
     football season he and Jack Brickhouse were the play-by-play 
     men on Chicago Bears radio broadcasts on WGN.
       Brick and Kup--there was nothing like them anywhere else in 
     the country. It might not have sounded like a symphony, but 
     it sure sounded like Chicago. Kup in his prime was this 
     physically huge, commanding poresence--he played professional 
     football for the Philadelphia Eagles, and later was an on-
     field NFL head linesman. When he began writing his column in 
     Chicago, he became an instant and larger-than-life star.
       He made the decision early to try to be fair both in print 
     and on the air, and chose generosity over smallness. He was 
     the biggest name in this town before anyone now working in 
     any print or broadcast newsroom got started, yet he made a 
     practice of going out of his way to be welcoming to new 
     colleagues. When I was given a column at the Sun-Times at the 
     age of 23, the first note I got was from him. Written in 
     heavy copy pencil over a tearsheet of the story announcing 
     the new column, the message was short: ``Bob--Congrats! 
     Kup.'' Did it matter? More than 30 years later, I still have 
     it.
       The pride of his life was Kup's Purple Heart Cruise. Each 
     year he would take military veterans, many of them from 
     hospitals, out on a boat in Lake Michigan for a day of 
     entertainment, food and fun. He started the cruise while 
     World War II was still raging, and it lasted for 50 years. 
     Once I was with him on the cruise--there was Kup on the 
     gangplank, wearing a commodore's cap--and an elderly former 
     soldier said to him, ``Kup, I bet you don't remember who I 
     am.'' Not missing a beat, Kup gave him a hearty Kup 
     backslap--I thought the old soldier was going to go tumbling 
     into the water--and boomed out: ``Of course I know you! 
     You're a grand old veteran!''
       Kup's interviewing style on ``Kup's Show'' was one of a 
     kind--I remember him leaning close to Henry Kissinger once 
     and thundering out, in that amazing Kup voice: ``Henry, what 
     the hell, pardon my French, is going on in Cambodia?''--and 
     like everything else he did, it was pure Chicago.
       I talked with him the other day. Like so many people who 
     reach 90, he finds that most of his friends are gone; he said 
     he spends most of his time at home, and that ``I'm weak much 
     of the time.'' He always worked so hard, he said, because 
     ``turnout out a good story was more fun than anything else I 
     could think of.'' Feeling weak or not, he seems to have made 
     a determination, based on the toughness and strength of the 
     old Kup: A great and legendary era in Chicago newspapering is 
     coming to an end, and he is going to be the last man 
     standing.
       In newsrooms not just in Chicago, but all over the 
     country--newsrooms where people who once here are now 
     employed--the mention of Kup brings a smile and thoughts of 
     home. It's probably not possible to speak for all of those 
     men and women--all of the editors, writers and photographers 
     with a Chicago connection--but as he turns 90 I'll bet I 
     speak for most of them right now. He has never liked fancy 
     writing, and he has always tried to make his point directly 
     and unambiguously with as few words as possible, so I'll say 
     it that way:
       We love you, Kup.

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