[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 7, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        HONORING COACH ED STEERS

                                  _____
                                 

                           HON. MARK SANFORD

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 7, 2014

  Mr. SANFORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the outstanding 
career and accomplishments of Coach Ed Steers. At the conclusion of 
this school year, Coach Steers will be retiring as Athletics Director 
of Porter-Gaud School after nine great years. Under his leadership, 
Porter-Gaud has consistently had one of the most successful and well-
rounded athletics programs in the South Carolina Independent School 
Association (SCISA), winning twenty-six state titles, as well as the 
SCISA President's Cup for three of the past four years.
  As much as Coach Steers has done for the Cyclones, many do not know 
the details about Ed's career prior to his arrival at Porter-Gaud. As a 
student-athlete at the Citadel (Class of 1968), Coach Steers was a 
three-time Southern Conference champion in wrestling, never losing in a 
dual meet. He entered the coaching profession following a brief stint 
as a tank officer in the Vietnam era, coaching for the Army, then as 
head coach at William and Mary and later at the U.S. Military Academy 
at West Point. He is still the winningest wrestling coach in the 
history of both programs, and has been named to the Citadel's Athletics 
Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the New York 
Collegiate Wrestling Hall of Fame. He also was named the Citadel's 
Alumnus of the Year in 2002.
  More important than all of these accolades has been Coach Steers' 
influence on the coaches, athletes, and the entire Porter-Gaud 
community. Ed models a lifestyle of personal fitness and discipline by 
squeezing in a run every day. He knows the name and the story of every 
single athlete and coach--and chokes up in telling the best ones every 
season at the athletics assemblies. He is present when buses pull out 
at 5:00 a.m., and he is present on the sidelines of almost every 
athletics event, whether bantam, junior varsity, or varsity. My boys 
Marshall, Landon, Bolton, and Blake join me, the Porter-Gaud Athletics 
Department, and the entire school in thanking Ed for his service and 
wishing him all the best in his well-deserved retirement. While his 
leadership and guidance will be sorely missed at Porter-Gaud, his 
legacy at the school will remain long after he departs and we wish him 
and his wife Sally all the best as their next journey begins.

                          ____________________