[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27894]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING ANGEL TORRES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 17, 2009

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate Angel Torres, 
distinguished journalist and member of my South Florida community, for 
receiving the 2009 National Award for Journalism given by the National 
Journalists Association of Cuba in Exile. It is with great pride that I 
recognize his exemplary work and dedication to sports and journalism 
throughout the years. Angel, born in La Havana, Cuba, always shared a 
great passion and interest for baseball. He started playing in the Free 
Amateur Tournaments of the Stadium with San Pedro and later became 
manager-player in the Winter Amateur Championships of Octavio Divino at 
Arroyo Naranjo supervising Nebraska, where he received a medal for his 
distinguished handwork of the immortal Martin Dihigo.
  Torres graduated from the Cuban-American Institute and the English 
Special Center at Jesus del Monte in 1947. By 1952 he graduated of 
Broadcasting and Journalism sponsored by the National Broadcasting 
School of Cuba in Radio Progreso. Throughout his sterling service to 
journalism, he wrote commentaries on sports and jazz for numerous 
programs like ``Pequenos Conjuntos de Grandes Musicos'' and ``Bandas 
Innovadoras de Jazz'', among many others. After arriving to the United 
States this inspiring journalist became the only Latin-American and 
Cuban author with five books in the Baseball Hall of Fame at 
Cooperstown, New York. His sports literature served as a renewed hope 
for Cubans in exile to remember and restart Cuban baseball in the 
veteran games in New Jersey and Miami. At the same time his work 
created awareness about Cuban baseball players and about the extinct 
Professional Cuban Baseball League. As a journalist and member of the 
Cuban community, Angel Torres was presented in January 28, 2007 by the 
Patronato Jose Marti in California, with the most prestige recognition 
to a Cuban in exile, the White Rose of the commemoration to Apostle 
Jose Marti.
  Once again, I would like to express how proud I am of Angel for his 
dedication to journalism, baseball and the Cuban community. His legacy 
in sports and journalism will serve as an example for our community and 
as inspiration for everyone to pursue their goals and dreams with 
commitment and passion.

                          ____________________