[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 14 (Thursday, February 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE 2004 AFRICAN AMERICAN ETHNIC SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2005

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the inductions of twelve 
former black Olympians into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of 
Fame on July 8, 2004 in Sacramento, California. The honorees were 
notable not only for their tremendous athletic achievements, but also 
for the profound social significance these achievements carried.
  The Athens Games in 2004 marked the 100th anniversary of the first 
African American participation in the Olympics, when George Poage 
earned bronze medals in the 200- and 400-meter hurdles, and Joseph 
Stadler won a silver medal in the standing high jump in St. Louis in 
1904. In the past 100 years, African Americans have produced numerous 
outstanding Olympic performances, and the July inductees to the African 
American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame are responsible for some of the 
finest.
  Of the Hall of Fame's twelve honorees, eleven were track and field 
athletes, and one was a coach. Alice Coachman-Davis, who was not 
allowed to participate in organized athletic activities while growing 
up in the South, became the first African American woman to win a gold 
medal when she placed first in the high jump at the London Games in 
1948. Harrison Dillard won an astounding 82 consecutive 110-meter 
hurdles races, a record which still stands. Wilbur Ross coached two of 
the most successful Olympic athletes of all time, Carl Lewis and 
Michael Johnson. And Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who finished first 
and third, respectively, in the 200 meters at the 1968 Games in Mexico 
City, took a courageous stand for social justice in one of the most 
powerful moments in the history of the Olympics. Other Hall of Fame 
inductees included Milt Campbell, Herb Douglas, Lee Evans, Edith 
McGuire-Duvall, Dr. Reginald Pearman, Wyomia Tyus and John Woodruff, 
all of whom were outstanding track and field athletes.
  These inductees' achievements are clearly remarkable in the pure 
athletic sense, but when placed in their social context, they are even 
more meaningful. Athletics has played an important role in the broader 
Civil Rights movement, and the Olympic Arena has provided not only an 
opportunity for African Americans to prove that they could compete with 
the rest of the world, but has also served as a forum for making 
important social and political statements. Today, it is of vital 
importance that we continue to recognize and pay tribute to these 
achievements, and that we continue to draw inspiration from them in 
furthering our own work for equality, justice and peace. On behalf of 
the Ninth Congressional District, I salute both the African American 
Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame and its July 2004 inductees for their 
invaluable contributions to athletics, the United States, and the 
entire world.

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