[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21106]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING ERNIE HARWELL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCOTTER. Madam Speaker, I quote:
  ``For, lo, the winter is past,
  The rain is over and gone;
  The flowers appear on the earth;
  The time of the singing of birds is come,
  And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.''
  Every April, we Michiganders heard Ernie Harwell recite these lines 
from the Song of Solomon from his broadcast booth; and we welcomed him 
and another season of Detroit Tigers baseball back into our homes. 
Ernie Harwell is not only a part of our culture; he is a part of our 
families.
  For 42 summers around radios and sand lots throughout Michigan and 
America, Ernie's voice embodied and expressed the grace, skill, 
triumphs and travails of the greatest of American games--baseball. 
Everyone either tried or knew someone who tried to mimic his legendary 
calls of ``long gone,'' ``he stood there like a house by the side of 
the road,'' or ``that foul ball was caught by a youngster from''--and 
on pins and needles we'd wait to hear from what city the lucky fan 
hailed. Of course, down inside we knew no one, including Ernie, knew 
where the fan was from, but it didn't matter. We knew where Ernie's 
heart was. It was and is with baseball and with us.
  But a heart as big as Ernie's is not confined solely to Detroit or to 
baseball. Across the country, generations of sports fans grew up 
listening to Ernie. He announced games for both NCAA and pro football 
teams; for the Masters golf tournament in his native State of Georgia; 
for the Major League Baseball All Star Game and World Series; for the 
Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, and yes, for the 
Detroit Tigers, who, in gratitude and admiration, placed Ernie's statue 
in the main concourse at Comerica Park.
  Yes, Ernie is also a part of the Detroit Tigers' family, as Tiger 
Hall of Famer Al Kaline affirmed: ``Ernie is probably the most beloved 
person who has ever been in Detroit with the Detroit Tigers. He is 
loved by everybody and rightfully so. He's a great broadcaster, but an 
even better person.''
  Yet while we and the Tigers and sports fans across the Nation embrace 
him, no one, of course, loves Ernie more than his wife of 68 years, 
Lulu, and their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. So 
blessed with their love and support, and faithful and thankful to God 
for bestowing this bounty upon him, Ernie now courageously faces the 
recent diagnosis that he is afflicted with incurable bile duct cancer. 
Viewing his condition not as an end, but as a beginning, Ernie says, 
``Whatever's in store, I'm ready for a new adventure. That's the way I 
look at it.''
  Madam Speaker, may we all honor this man, savor his company amongst 
us in the time God grants, and greet all of our lives' challenges with 
the faith, equanimity and dignity of Ernie Harwell.

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