[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5692-S5693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. MYLES BRAND

 Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, today I recognize a constituent and a 
dear friend, Dr. Myles David Brand, a man of uncommon integrity and 
vision whose leadership has restored an ethos of scholastic achievement 
to collegiate athletics in America.
  Dr. Brand took over as the fourth chief executive officer of the 
National Collegiate Athletics Association, NCAA, in January 2003, and 
the intervening years have been marked by an unyielding focus on 
reorienting the NCAA's priorities in ways aimed to nurture and support 
the student athlete.
  Dr. Brand delivered a watershed speech in 2001 at the National Press 
Club, in which he enunciated the mission statement that would come to 
define his tenure leading the NCAA: ``Academics must come first.''
  Dr. Brand warned against the ``bleeding of the entertainment industry 
with intercollegiate athletics'' and cautioned that falling academic 
performance ``risks undermine the integrity of a system of higher 
education that is without question right now leading the world.''
  ``Athletic success,'' he said, ``cannot substitute for academic 
success. Universities must be seen, and understood, and judged by their 
achievements as

[[Page S5693]]

academic institutions, not sports franchises.''
  As NCAA president, Dr. Brand spearheaded the most comprehensive 
package of academic reforms governing college athletics in our 
lifetime. Under his leadership, the NCAA raised eligibility standards 
for freshmen and toughened requirements that its 400,000 scholarship 
athletes make annual progress toward a degree to maintain their 
eligibility. Dr. Brand's reforms subjected teams with poor overall 
academic performance to unprecedented penalties, including bans on bowl 
games and postseason play.
  The result: Today, NCAA graduation rates exceed those of the general 
student population in every demographic category. Last year, the NCAA's 
overall graduation rate for its student athletes stood at 79 percent. 
The graduation rate of female student athletes outpaced nonathletes by 
8 percent, while the graduation rate for African-American male student 
athletes was 10 percent higher than their nonathletic peers.
  For redefining what is scholastically possible in such a short time 
span, Dr. Brand will forever be known as the NCAA's ``Education 
President.''
  It should be noted that despite Dr. Brand's unrelenting focus on 
helping students make the grade, he has never lost sight of the joy of 
making the shot. ``Anyone who thinks that college is only about the 
library, the lecture hall, and the laboratory really doesn't understand 
what happens in college,'' he once told a journalist.
  I can personally attest that Myles Brand harbors an unsurpassed love 
for the game played on the field and a belief in the power of the NCAA 
to be a dreammaker for young people.
  Yet he has remained true to his pledge that ``academics must come 
first.'' In 2003, Dr. Brand became the first university president ever 
chosen to lead the NCAA. A philosopher by training and inclination, Dr. 
Brand has earned admiration as a level-headed leader interested in 
critical examination and reform. USA Today called him ``the strongest, 
most vocal and influential leader college sports has had in . . . 
decades.''
  Prior to taking over the NCAA, the people of the great State of 
Indiana enjoyed a front-row seat to his many accomplishments in 
academia. From 1994 to 2002, he served as the 16th president of my alma 
mater, Indiana University. Dr. Brand led IU through a period of 
remarkable growth, attracting record enrollments, doubling research 
funding, and establishing the university as a national leader in the 
life sciences and information technology. He increased the school's 
endowment by a factor of four and tripled the number of endowed chairs. 
Under Dr. Brand's leadership, IU created a nationally renowned School 
of Informatics and developed the Central Indiana Life Sciences 
Initiatives. His trailblazing leadership was recognized in 2001 when 
Time Magazine named Indiana University its ``College of the Year.''
  When Dr. Brand left IU to assume the NCAA presidency, he did not have 
to go far--traveling 40 miles up State Road 37 from Bloomington to 
Indianapolis, where the NCAA is headquartered.
  The NCAA has been a model corporate constituent under Dr. Brand's 
management, employing more than 410 Hoosiers with well-paying jobs 
while maintaining a strong community presence. It has helped hundreds 
of charities, schools and local organizations throughout Indiana, such 
as United Way and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. After 
Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the NCAA dispatched teams of 
student athletes and considerable financial resources to the region to 
rebuild family homes.
  Dr. Myles David Brand is a loving and devoted husband to his wife, 
Peg; a wonderful father and grandfather; and a special leader who I am 
proud to recognize today for his contributions to college sports, the 
State of Indiana, and the country as a whole.

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