[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 20, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S45]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO BUDD LYNCH

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, 65 years ago, a young Canadian 
serving his nation was struck by German artillery fire on a Normandy 
battlefield. The blast tore away his right arm and shoulder, and at a 
field hospital, a chaplain performed last rites on young Joseph James 
Lynch.
  It is the good fortune of the Detroit Red Wings hockey club and 
thousands of fans in Michigan and across the United States and Canada 
that ``Budd'' Lynch survived the loss of his right arm with his life, 
his talent, and his sense of humor intact. Now 92 years old, Budd 
remains a leading citizen of Hockeytown after 60 years as a radio and 
television broadcaster, publicity and community affairs executive and 
public address announcer.
  His broadcasting skills have been widely honored: He is a member of 
the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and a winner of the Ty Tyson Award for 
Excellence in Sports Broadcasting from the Detroit Sports Broadcasters 
Association. In 1985, he received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, the 
highest honor in hockey broadcasting, and was inducted into the Hockey 
Hall of Fame.
  As much as his talent at the microphone, it is Budd Lynch's 
unstoppable good humor that has endeared him to generations of hockey 
fans. Only someone with Budd's upbeat personality could refer to 
himself as ``the one-armed bandit.''
  But even many of Budd's many fans don't know of all he has done for 
his community. For 20 years, he has hosted an annual charity golf 
tournament, with proceeds benefitting the Guidance Center, a Wayne 
County nonprofit organization that provides services including 
substance abuse and mental health counseling, parenting skills 
training, literacy promotion and educational programs for metro Detroit 
families. And he has spent countless hours providing guidance to fellow 
amputees, providing a living, breathing example that the loss of a limb 
does not stand in the way of a life lived joyfully.
  The city of Wyandotte, which Budd has long called home, has planned a 
salute for him later this month, with the proceeds going to the 
Guidance Center. He will be presented with a key to the city, but Budd 
Lynch already has the key to the hearts of hockey fans in Detroit and 
around the NHL. I salute him for his years of service and sacrifice--to 
Canada, to the Red Wings, to hockey, and to the community and to our 
State that have for so many decades been proud to claim him as one of 
our own.

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