[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 141 (Tuesday, November 18, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8038-H8039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                          GIANTS OF THE SOUTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. David Scott) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the 
Congress, ladies and gentlemen of America, and President Barack Obama, 
I rise this morning with a heavy, heavy heart at the passing of two 
great, magnificent Americans from my home State of Georgia, Herman 
Russell and Governor Carl Sanders--two men, two giants whose lives 
intertwined at a most important time in the history of this Nation and 
especially in the history of the South, for these two men, Herman 
Russell and Governor Carl Sanders, ushered in and gave birth to the New 
South, the South away from segregation. It was Herman Russell and 
Governor Carl Sanders who broke down the barriers of segregation and 
paved a new way and a new day for this Nation. That is why we are so 
proud of these two gentlemen.
  Every school should look at their autobiographies, because they made 
it the hard way, against the odds. Herman Russell, born into poverty in 
south Atlanta, came up and didn't let the ravages of segregation stop 
him, didn't let his speech impediment stop him, and emerged with the 
world's largest, most profitable construction and real estate financial 
firm owned by an African American. But, oh, it wouldn't have happened 
if he hadn't had a Governor at that time named Carl Sanders, who broke 
down those racial barriers. I will tell you about him.
  As a quarterback at the University of Georgia, he left the University 
of Georgia and went and volunteered at 19 years old to fight in the 
military for his country. He came back and ran for the State House of 
Representatives, against the segregationist party. And this man, 
because of him being in the right place at the right time, and because 
of Herman Russell being in the right place at the right time, Major 
League Baseball came knocking, and there we built Atlanta Stadium. Ivan 
Allen said: Build it, and they will come. It was Carl Sanders who 
passed the legislation setting up the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation 
Authority that made it happen--all of this happening while all around 
us in the South was racial turmoil, and Herman Russell building his 
great company and becoming the first African American to sit on the 
board and a member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
  Oh, my friends, the world, these are two great trees who were planted 
by the rivers of waters, and they brought forth their fruit and their 
season, and none of their leaves withered, and let

[[Page H8039]]

me tell you that every single thing they touched prospered. They 
touched me. I wouldn't be in Congress this day if it weren't for Herman 
Russell, an African American who dared to fight segregation and reach 
across, and Carl Sanders, a White Governor, who, himself, fought and 
integrated the schools in Georgia when it was not popular.
  When I got ready to run for the State House, it was Herman Russell 
who I asked, Could you help me?
  He said, Yes, I will. Who have you got with you?
  I said, I have got Andy Young. I have got Maynard Jackson. I have got 
``home run king'' Hank Aaron.
  Then Herman said, Well, where are your White folks?
  I went, and the first door I knocked on was that of Governor Carl 
Sanders, who took me in and gave me a contribution. He didn't stop 
there. He even assigned two of his lawyers, Norman Underwood and Dale 
Schwartz, to get out into the community and help me. That is what Carl 
Sanders and Herman Russell mean. They built Atlanta the right way.
  When Pete Rozelle wanted the NFL--all of this while the civil rights 
movement was churning, but in Atlanta, the NFL was coming--he picked up 
the phone and called Carl Sanders. Can you get me somebody there, 
Governor, who has got $5 million or $6 million? We will bring an NFL 
team to Atlanta. Carl Sanders got on the phone and called his old buddy 
at the University of Georgia.
  We thank God for Herman Russell and Carl Sanders. God bless Herman 
Russell and Carl Sanders, and God bless the United States of America.

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