[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 98 (Wednesday, July 10, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5621-S5622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 193--HONORING THE FALLEN HEROES OF THE GRANITE 
                   MOUNTAIN INTERAGENCY HOTSHOT CREW

  Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Flake) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 193

       Whereas, on June 30, 2013, 19 firefighters of the Prescott 
     Fire Department's Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew 
     (referred to in this preamble as the ``Crew'') gave their 
     lives battling the Yarnell Hill Fire in Yavapai County, 
     Arizona;
       Whereas the loss of these 19 brave men makes the Yarnell 
     Hill Fire the deadliest wildfire in the history of the State 
     of Arizona and the worst wildland firefighter fatality 
     incident in the United States in 80 years;
       Whereas Eric Marsh, who was 43 years old and a native of 
     Ashe County, North Carolina, served as the Crew's 
     superintendent;
       Whereas Jesse Steed, who was 36 years old and a native of 
     Cottonwood, Arizona, served as the Crew's captain;
       Whereas Clayton Whitted, who was 28 years old, was a native 
     of Prescott, Arizona;
       Whereas Robert Caldwell, who was 23 years old, was a native 
     of Prescott, Arizona, and was the cousin of Grant McKee, who 
     also perished battling the Yarnell Hill Fire;
       Whereas Travis Carter, who was 31 years old, was a native 
     of Prescott, Arizona;

[[Page S5622]]

       Whereas Christopher MacKenzie, who was 30 years old, was a 
     native of Hemet, California;
       Whereas Travis Turbyfill, who was 27 years old, was a 
     native of Prescott, Arizona;
       Whereas Andrew Ashcraft, who was 29 years old, was a native 
     of Prescott, Arizona;
       Whereas Joe Thurston, who was 32 years old, was a native of 
     Cedar City, Utah;
       Whereas Wade Parker, who was 22 years old, was a native of 
     Chino Valley, Arizona;
       Whereas Anthony Rose, who was 23 years old, was a native of 
     Zion, Illinois;
       Whereas Garret Zuppiger, who was 27 years old, was a native 
     of Phoenix, Arizona;
       Whereas Scott Norris, who was 28 years old, was a native of 
     Prescott, Arizona;
       Whereas Dustin DeFord, who was 24 years old, was born in 
     Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Ekalaka, Montana;
       Whereas William ``Billy'' Warneke, who was 25 years old, 
     was a native of Hemet, California;
       Whereas Kevin Woyjeck, who was 21 years old, was a native 
     of Seal Beach, California;
       Whereas John Percin, Jr., who was 24 years old, was a 
     native of West Linn, Oregon;
       Whereas Grant McKee, who was 21 years old, was a native of 
     Newport Beach, California, and was the cousin of Robert 
     Caldwell, who also perished battling the Yarnell Hill Fire;
       Whereas Sean Misner, who was 26 years old, was a native of 
     Goleta, California;
       Whereas the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew was 
     founded as a fuel mitigation crew in 2002, and, around 2008, 
     became the first municipal hotshot crew in the United States;
       Whereas the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew was 
     an elite ground firefighting crew, hailed from diverse 
     backgrounds, and worked long hours in extreme environmental 
     conditions while performing physically demanding fireline 
     tasks; and
       Whereas, on July 1, 2013, the Governor of Arizona declared 
     a state of emergency because of the Yarnell Hill Fire, by 
     which date the fire had already burned approximately 8,300 
     acres, threatened or destroyed hundreds of homes and other 
     structures, and forced the evacuation of approximately 1,250 
     people: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors the memory of the fallen heroes of the Prescott 
     Fire Department's Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew;
       (2) extends its deepest condolences and sympathy to the 
     surviving families of the 19 firefighters lost in the line of 
     duty; and
       (3) commends the bravery and sacrifice made by these fallen 
     wildland firefighters in the service of their communities.
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SENATE RESOLUTION 194--CONGRATULATING THE 1963 MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM OF 
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO ON ITS INDUCTION INTO THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE 
BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME, THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TEAM'S DIVISION I 
NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP, 
AND THE TEAM'S HISTORIC NCAA TOURNAMENT GAME AGAINST MISSISSIPPI STATE 
                               UNIVERSITY

  Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Cochran, and Mr. Wicker) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 194

       Whereas, in 1963, Coach George Ireland led the men's 
     basketball team of Loyola University Chicago (referred to in 
     this preamble as the ``Ramblers'') to the Division I National 
     Collegiate Athletic Association (referred to in this preamble 
     as the ``NCAA'') men's basketball championship;
       Whereas the Ramblers lost only 2 games during the 1962-1963 
     season and led the Nation in scoring with an average of 91.8 
     points per game;
       Whereas Coach Ireland and the Loyola University men's 
     basketball teams of the early 1960s are considered by many to 
     be responsible for ushering in a new era of racial equality 
     in the sport by shattering major racial barriers in NCAA 
     men's basketball;
       Whereas, in 1963, the Ramblers shocked the Nation and 
     changed college basketball forever by starting 4 African-
     American players in the NCAA tournament, as well as the 
     championship game;
       Whereas it is difficult to appreciate what Coach Ireland 
     and his team went through, starting in 1961, in breaking what 
     had been a longstanding ``gentleman's agreement'' to play not 
     more than 3 African-American players;
       Whereas, during the 1962-1963 season, Coach Ireland started 
     4 African-American players in every game, and, in December 
     1962, the Ramblers became the first team in NCAA Division I 
     history to have an all-African-American lineup in a game 
     against the University of Wyoming;
       Whereas, despite their success during the 1962-1963 season, 
     the players and Coach Ireland endured terrible bigotry, 
     including racial taunts and abuse, and received countless 
     pieces of hate mail from the Ku Klux Klan and other racist 
     individuals, and all the while Coach Ireland tried to shield 
     his team in every way possible;
       Whereas the men's basketball team of Mississippi State 
     University (referred to in this preamble as the ``Maroons'' 
     and now called the ``Bulldogs'') won its second consecutive 
     southeastern conference championship in 1963, but had been 
     forced by the Governor of Mississippi not to accept NCAA 
     tournament bids in the 3 previous seasons because of the 
     inclusion of African-American players in the tournament;
       Whereas, before advancing to the championship round, the 
     Ramblers participated in the NCAA Midwest regional semifinal 
     against the Maroons, a landmark game often referred to half a 
     century later as the ``Game of Change'';
       Whereas Mississippi State University president Dean Colvard 
     and athletic director and men's basketball coach James 
     Harrison ``Babe'' McCarthy bravely accepted the Maroons' 1963 
     NCAA tournament invitation against the wishes of the Governor 
     of Mississippi;
       Whereas, determined to play in the regional semifinal, the 
     Maroons snuck out of Mississippi in the middle of the night 
     to avoid an injunction, and the integrated Ramblers and the 
     all-white Maroons met on the basketball court at Michigan 
     State University on March 15, 1963;
       Whereas, with police surrounding the sports complex in East 
     Lansing, Michigan, the Ramblers went on to defeat the Maroons 
     in a competitive game by a score of 61 to 51 in the regional 
     semifinal, a game that changed race relations on the 
     basketball court forever and was selected by the NCAA in 2006 
     as one of the 25 defining moments in the first 100 years of 
     the organization;
       Whereas the Ramblers went on to win games against the 
     University of Illinois and Duke University before defeating 
     the 2-time defending NCAA champion University of Cincinnati 
     in overtime by a score of 60 to 58, the crowning achievement 
     in Loyola University Chicago's nearly decade-long struggle 
     with racial inequality in men's college basketball, 
     highlighted by the tumultuous events of the 1963 NCAA 
     tournament;
       Whereas the Ramblers' 1963 NCAA title was historic not only 
     for the racial makeup of the Ramblers, but also because the 
     University of Cincinnati had started 3 African-American 
     players, making 7 of the 10 starters in the 1963 NCAA 
     championship game African American;
       Whereas the city of Chicago has many storied sports teams, 
     but the Ramblers basketball team of 1963 and Coach Ireland 
     hold an exalted place because they are the only NCAA Division 
     I Illinois basketball team to win a national championship and 
     because they paved the way for the long overdue integration 
     of races in college basketball before the enactment of the 
     Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352; 78 Stat. 241);
       Whereas all 5 starting players from the national 
     championship game graduated from Loyola University with a 
     degree, and several went on to earn advanced degrees in law 
     and business;
       Whereas the journey of the Ramblers is not just the story 
     of an underdog team overcoming great odds to beat the favored 
     team from the University of Cincinnati, a much larger 
     basketball program that held the number 1 ranking and had won 
     the previous 2 national championships;
       Whereas the real significance of Coach Ireland and the 
     Ramblers is the lasting impact of their bravery in breaking 
     the racial barrier in college basketball that had been 
     allowed to prevail for decades; and
       Whereas the 2013 Hall of Fame induction season will mark 
     the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Ramblers' basketball 
     championship, making the 1963 Ramblers the first whole team 
     ever to be honored in the Hall of Fame: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) congratulates Coach George Ireland and the 1963 Loyola 
     University Chicago men's basketball championship team on 
     their induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall 
     of Fame;
       (2) honors the 50th anniversary of the historic Division I 
     National Collegiate Athletic Association championship of the 
     Loyola University Chicago men's basketball team and the 
     profound athletic and civil rights achievements of the 1963 
     team; and
       (3) honors the 1963 Mississippi State University men's 
     basketball team for their bravery and sportsmanship in 
     rejecting racism and aiding in the civil rights movement in 
     the State of Mississippi and the southeastern United States.

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