[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4255]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO THE DRAKE UNIVERSITY MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM

 Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am here today to commend the 
Drake University Men's Basketball team on its outstanding and 
unexpected success this past season. Drake is a school of less than 
5,000 students in Des Moines, IA. Today the Drake community is 
experiencing basketball success the likes of which it hasn't seen in 
over 35 years. Coached by Keno Davis, the Bulldogs won the regular 
season Missouri Valley Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference 
tournament and earned a berth to the NCAA tournament. They were picked 
to finish ninth in the conference and instead roared to a 28-4 overall 
record. It was only the second winning season the Bulldogs have enjoyed 
in the past 20 years. And it's the first time since 1971 that they will 
play in the NCAA tournament. Drake also finished the regular season 
ranked 20th in the Nation and beating a tough Illinois State team by 30 
points in the MVC tournament final. It's been a long drought, but the 
Bulldog nation, from Iowa to Washington, DC, to California, could not 
be prouder.
  This upstart team has quite a story. Two starters, Adam Emmenecker 
and Jonathon Cox are former 3-year walk-ons who recently earned 
basketball scholarships. They are also incredibly successful 
academically. Drake started off the season well and won the mythical 
State championship by beating the University of Iowa, Iowa State 
University and the University of Northern Iowa. They snapped a 20 game 
losing streak at the University of Iowa. Drake also had great success 
in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Bulldogs cracked the Top 25, 
too, and traveled to Butler University and beat the eighth ranked team 
on their home court.
  This Drake team exemplifies what it means to be a student-athlete. 
Five Drake players, Adam Emmenecker, Josh Young, Klayton Korver, Brent 
Heemskerk, and Jonathon Cox were named to the MVC's scholar-athlete 
team. Four of the five Bulldog starters have a GPA above 3.0. In 
addition, Emmenecker was named the ESPN Scholar Athlete of the year for 
NCAA Men's Division I basketball, with a 3.97 GPA and four majors.
  It goes without saying that behind a great college team are great 
coaches and administrators. Keno Davis is in his first year as a head 
coach. He's been named the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the 
Year, and Sporting News Coach of the Year. Just 36 years old, Keno 
learned from his father, Dr. Tom Davis, who retired as Drake's head 
coach in 2007, and was a longtime head coach at the University of Iowa. 
I have great respect for the Davis family, and I'm so glad that they 
have rebuilt the Drake program. Keno and his wife Krista became parents 
during the season, too. Assistant coaches Chris Davis, Rodell Davis and 
Justin Ohl have obviously spent hours fine-tuning their talented and 
intelligent team.
  I also need to congratulate Drake's president Dr. David Maxwell and 
Athletic Director Sandy Hatfield Clubb for their support of the men's 
basketball program. They have helped rebuild Drake's basketball program 
while maintaining high academic standards. We all know how hard that is 
in college sports today. Drake is a shining example of how a team can 
win on the court and in the classroom.
  Dolph Pulliam, a member of Drake's one and only Final Four team, has 
served as an inspiration to the current Bulldogs. Dolph and his team 
played Lew Alcinder, known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar today, and UCLA back 
in 1969 and only lost by 3 points. Since his playing days, Dolph has 
remained in the Des Moines area, working for the university and 
broadcasting their games on the radio. And he is quite a presence with 
his huge smile and blue leather suit. I know he has influenced the 
current Drake players, thanks to encouragement from Dr. Tom Davis to 
help them all rekindle the fires of great basketball.
  So I want to again extend my congratulations to the Drake University 
men's basketball program, and to their students and fans who've never 
lost faith in them. It has been a joy to watch their success, and I 
hope that they continue winning during March Madness. I also hope that 
these young men will serve as an example to the young people in Iowa, 
to show that it is entirely possible to maintain high academic 
standards and winning ways on the court.

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