[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 31, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E29]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MAX FALKENSTIEN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 31, 2006

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Max 
Falkenstien, the ``Voice of the Kansas Jayhawks'', who will be retiring 
at the conclusion of the 2005--2006 men's basketball season at the 
University of Kansas.
  The conclusion of the current season will mark Max Falkenstien's 60th 
season of broadcasting Kansas University sporting events. At age 81, he 
has been inducted into the Naisimith Basketball Hall of Fame, the 
College Football Hall of Fame, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and the 
KU Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the first inductee of the Lawrence 
High School Hall of Honor. Additionally, he has been awarded an 
honorary ``K'' by the Kansas Lettermen's Club. The Sporting News in 
2001 named Falkenstien ``the best college radio personality in the 
country'' and ESPN's Dick Vitale included KU's Bob Davis and 
Falkenstien in his ``Sweet 16'' of the best announcer teams in the 
United States.
  A true legend, Max Falkenstien has been synonymous with KU athletics 
for 6 decades. As KU basketball coach Bill Self recently said in the 
Lawrence Journal-World, ``Max has performed at the highest level over 
an extended period of time like very few in his profession.'' 
Falkenstien broadcast his first basketball game--an NCAA tournament 
game in Kansas City between KU and Oklahoma A&M--on March 18, 1946. His 
next broadcast was KU versus TCU in football on September 21, 1946. He 
was play-by-play voice of the Jayhawks for 39 years and then switched 
to a commentator's role in September 1984 when Bob Davis assumed play-
by-play duties. Falkenstien provided play-by-play for the Big Eight 
Conference basketball game of the week between 1968 and 1971, and for 
more than 3 decades hosted football and basketball coaches' TV 
programs, including those for Don Fambrough, Pepper Rogers, Mike 
Gottfried, Ted Owens, Larry Brown and Roy Williams.
  Mr. Speaker, I include with this statement a recent article from the 
Lawrence Journal-World summarizing Max Falkenstien's outstanding career 
and I join with all KU fans in wishing him well in his long overdue, 
richly deserved retirement as ``Voice of the Kansas Jayhawks.''

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