[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E466-E467]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DAWN STALEY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 16, 2005

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dawn Staley, 
a three-time Olympic and World Championship gold medalist who is also 
the outstanding coach of the Temple University women's basketball team. 
The team, the Temple Women's Owls, just last week captured the Atlantic 
Ten Conference NCCA tournament championship. The Owls team has won a 
school record 27 games which includes the last 24 which represents the 
longest current winning streak for any Division I basketball team, 
men's or women's.
  As a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team Ms. Staley was voted by 
other U.S. team Olympic captains to carry the flag and lead the U.S. 
delegation into the coliseum, in Athens, Greece. A fixture on U.S. 
basketball teams since the 1989 Junior World Championship, she competed 
in the old American Basketball League (ABL) from 1997-1999 where she 
was a two-time all ABL honoree. She is also just one of three 
University of Virginia Cavaliers to have their number retired. She 
twice was named National Player of the Year, during her junior and 
senior seasons at UVA.
  Born in North Philadelphia, as a young girl Ms. Staley played 
basketball with the boys as a way of staying out of trouble. She 
attended Dobbins High School and the University of Virginia, where she 
was all-American. As a sports phenomenon she strives to be the role 
model that she says she was in search of as a child. In 1996 she 
created the Dawn Staley Foundation whose mission is to create a future 
of hope for at-risk youth by providing opportunities to help them 
realize their dreams and become productive and responsible citizens. 
Because of her efforts to give back to

[[Page E467]]

her community she was awarded the 1998 American Red Cross Spectrum 
Award and she also received the 1999 WNBA Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.
  Dawn Staley is an outstanding athlete, coach and inspiration. She is 
a champion in the truest sense of the word.

                          ____________________