[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 104 (Monday, June 19, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S3574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Lee Jordan

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, for the last few months, I have been 
coming down to the floor to recognize someone in my State who, through 
acts both small and large, has made the State better for all of us. I 
call this person our Alaskan of the Week. What I am going to do is I am 
going to talk a little bit about baseball as part of the Alaskan of the 
Week.
  We saw how important baseball is with regard to a sport that can 
bring Americans together. Just last week, I think people all across the 
country--certainly in DC and certainly here in the Senate--saw how 
important that is.
  We had that great game--Democrats and Republicans last week coming 
together. I am a little biased here about the Republican team, with 
Senator Flake and Senator Paul. We didn't win, but it was a good game. 
I know we are all still praying for those injured last week, 
Congressman Scalise and others, but it is important to see how that 
great American pastime brings us together as a Nation.
  There are many great things about my wonderful State. But in Alaska, 
baseball also brings us together. So I would like to recognize today 
one of the many people throughout the State who keeps the special 
institution of baseball alive in Alaska. This gentleman's name is Lee 
Jordan. He is from Eagle River.
  Now, I would venture to guess that most people, when they think of 
Alaska, think about our spectacular mountains and glaciers. They might 
think about fishing, our delicious salmon, thousands of miles of State 
and Federal parks, and our vast wilderness. But baseball probably isn't 
the first thing that comes to many people's mind when they think about 
Alaska.
  Actually, those who follow baseball understand how important Alaska 
summers are to taking young college students with raw talent and 
growing them under the midnight Sun into seasoned, professional 
baseball players. This is the Alaska Baseball League, and it is one of 
the premier baseball leagues in the summer in the United States.
  Let me give you a few names of those who have come up through the 
Alaska Baseball League. It has produced some of the most important 
Major League stars, including Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Tom Seaver, 
Dave Winfield, and Randy Johnson, just to name a few. I think those are 
all hall of famers.
  Alaska's six-team league includes two teams in Anchorage, one in 
Fairbanks, one in Palmer, one in Kenai, and--thanks to the unrelenting 
enthusiasm of Lee Jordan--one in Chugiak-Eagle River, AK, a picturesque 
area about 20 minutes from Anchorage, nestled in the Chugiak Mountains. 
It is part of Anchorage, but it is also very much its own place, with a 
sense of pride and people who live there like Lee.
  Let me tell you a little bit about Lee Jordan. He was originally from 
Alabama, where football, not baseball, was king. When he enlisted in 
the Army in 1947, his choice of overseas assignments was, according to 
him, ``anything but Alaska''--``anyplace but Alaska.'' But he got 
Alaska, and he stayed and he loved it, and he settled in Chugiak-Eagle 
River.
  Before long, he owned the local newspaper, the Alaska Star--now the 
Chugiak-Eagle River Star--and he was coaching his son's Little League 
baseball team. When they got too old for Little League, he began to 
form new leagues for them to play in, which his boys did. Eventually, 
his sons got too old for all the leagues, but Lee kept up the love of 
the game.
  Then he and former State Senator Bill Stoltze, a good friend of mine 
and another huge booster of baseball in Alaska, hatched a plan to get a 
team to their area as part of the Alaska Baseball League. So the first 
Chugiak-Eagle River-Chinook game was in 2011, and it is now called the 
Lee Jordan Field and the Loretta French Sports Complex, and they have 
been going strong ever since.
  This is such a beautiful place. Right now in Alaska every year, we 
have a midnight Sun baseball game in Fairbanks played on June 21, the 
summer solstice, the longest day of the year. That game begins at 10:30 
p.m. and goes until the wee hours of the morning under a never-setting 
midnight Sun.
  But there are few more beautiful places in the world than Chugiak-
Eagle River. Lee Jordan thinks the ballpark is the most beautiful 
ballpark anywhere, and I can't disagree.
  As I have mentioned many times on the floor, it is all about 
communities. It is all about communities coming together, and Lee has 
made that happen for Alaskans and baseball lovers, not only in our 
great State but throughout the country. For that reason, he is our 
Alaskan of the Week.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.