[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E199-E200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         KIDS AND KUBS LOSE PAUL GOOD, THEIR FRIEND AND LEADER

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                         HON. C. W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 4, 2009

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, with the beginning of February, 
Florida prepares for Major League Baseball's spring training practices 
and games. For Kids and Kubs, St. Petersburg, Florida's Three-Quarter 
Century Softball League, the season is already halfway over.
  This year though, the Kids and Kubs take the field without their 
President and inspirational leader. Paul B. Good died November 16th at 
the age of 98. He was the longest-serving President in the club's 
history.
  For those who have never seen a Kids and Kubs game, this is no 
exhibition game. These are players 75-years-old and up who play 
competitive softball and they play to win.
  Paul Good joined the league when he turned 75 and played through the 
past three decades. A smile and fierce competitive spirit were just as 
much a part of his uniform as his red, white and blue cap and his crisp 
white shirt and pants.
  Following my remarks, I will include for the benefit of my colleagues 
an article by Ron Matus of The St. Petersburg Times about Paul Good 
entitled ``Age Never Slowed This Athlete.'' It is a fitting tribute to 
this man who was more than a ball player. He was the best friend of his 
son Jerry who delighted in their trips together up until their last 
months.
  Madam Speaker, St. Petersburg lost a legend when we lost Paul Good 
last November. But Paul would be the first to tell his teammates to 
play on in his absence and that is what they do from November through 
April at North Shore Park. Join me in tipping a ball cap to Paul as we 
thank him for his service to the Kids and Kubs, the pride with which he 
took to the ball field, for his friendship with his teammates, and for 
his devotion to his family, his son, his four grandchildren, and his 
three great grandchildren.


[[Page E200]]



             [From the St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 22, 2008]

 Age Never Slowed This Athlete, Love for Senior Softball and Kids and 
                            Kubs Was Intense

                             (By Ron Matus)

       When he was 85, Paul B. Good told his son: Let's go see the 
     Rockies.
       His son was secretly petrified. Mr. Good had had a 
     pacemaker for 20 years.
       ``So I run off and take a CPR course,'' said the son, Jerry 
     Good, now 68. ``I figure we're going to be out in the boonies 
     and I'm going to have problems.''
       But, no problems. Only a grand time. And what a son thought 
     might be a last hurrah with Dad turned out to be the first of 
     10 annual adventures.
       In St. Petersburg, Mr. Good was a driving force behind Kids 
     and Kubs, the Harlem Globetrotters of senior softball. He was 
     the longest-serving president in club history. And he may be 
     best remembered for taking his aging, ageless team to 
     Midwestern locales where visions of Florida still include old 
     coots on ballfields, swinging for the fences.
       To hear Jerry Good tell it, Mr. Good hit a home run as a 
     father, too.
       ``We were terrific friends,'' Jerry Good said.
       Mr. Good died Nov. 16. He was 98.
       Stocky and strong, Mr. Good was a talented athlete. He 
     played semipro basketball before becoming a stockbroker, and 
     until joining Kids and Kubs at age 75 was still shooting his 
     age in golf.
       His reflexes were cat-quick, honed by years of tapping out 
     Morse code in the brokerage business. A few years ago, four 
     generations of Goods tested themselves with a gizmo that 
     measured reaction time. Great-Grandpa, in his mid 90s, still 
     proved the fastest.
       Off the field, Mr. Good was easygoing, said Kids and Kubs 
     vice president Clarence Faucett. But when he stepped between 
     the white lines, ``it was a different ball game.'' One photo 
     shows a man in his 80s, bat on shoulder, staring toward the 
     pitcher's mound. The caption says, ``Throw the damn ball!''
       Mr. Good the softball guy was so intense, he recruited 
     players for tournament games.
       Mr. Good the father was best man at his son's wedding. The 
     pair played golf together for years. Their road trips took 
     them to Utah, New Mexico, the Smokies in Tennessee.
       Mr. Good's own father worked him hard clearing land in New 
     Port Richey. They didn't talk much, didn't play much. Mr. 
     Good told his son, ``I was going to be different for you.''
       As a kid, Jerry Good recalled, he and Dad played catch 
     every day. As soon as Mr. Good got home from work, they would 
     get the mitts and hit the yard.
       Dad never said, ``I'm too tired.''

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