[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11087-11088]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO GENE STALLINGS

 Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, today I honor Coach Gene Stallings, 
who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on July 18, 
2010.
  Eugene Clifton Stallings was born March 2, 1935, in Paris, TX. As a 
young man, Gene was an accomplished athlete who demonstrated his 
natural leadership as the captain for the Paris High School football, 
baseball, and golf teams. Whether on the gridiron, the diamond, or the 
links, his abilities were readily apparent. These talents coupled with 
a tireless work ethic earned him a football scholarship at Texas A&M 
University, where he would play end for Coach Paul ``Bear'' Bryant.
  At Texas A&M, Stallings would ultimately help the Aggies bring a 
Southwest Conference Championship back to College Station. But the road 
to victory was paved with hardship, and it ran through Junction, TX.
  When Bryant first signed on as the head coach for Texas A&M's 
football team in 1954, more than 100 players were listed on the Aggies' 
roster. What players were left after a grueling spring and summer 
regimen attended a preseason camp at an adjunct campus in Junction. 
After 10 days of practicing during a record Texan drought and heat that 
at times reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit, less than 40 players remained 
to take the field as the 1954 Aggies. Gene Stallings was among the 
strong that survived and have since been known simply as the Junction 
Boys.
  The Junction Boys returned to campus stronger, with a clearer sense 
of purpose and unity. Though their success was not immediate--the 1954 
Aggies won only one game--they persevered. These men, forged in the 
Texas heat, kept working through these setbacks and losses.
  The Aggies would finish the 1956 season as undefeated Southwestern 
Conference Champions, thanks in no small part to the resolve of the 
Junction Boys that lead that team. They demonstrated the truth of the 
Bear's simple philosophy: ``the price of victory is high, but so are 
the rewards.''
  Stallings finished his playing career after the 1956 season, but his 
football career was far from over and would soon flourish. He followed 
Bryant to the University of Alabama in 1958 and served as an assistant 
coach for the 1961 and 1964 National Championship teams. After helping 
restore the winning Tradition of the Crimson Tide, Coach Stallings 
returned to his alma mater, where he would lead the Aggies to another 
Southwestern Conference Championship in 1967.
  Stallings left College Station for the Dallas Cowboys in 1972. After 
18 years in the NFL, he returned to the Capstone to lead the Crimson 
Tide back atop the elite of college football yet again.
  In 1992, Coach Stallings' Crimson Tide, led by a stifling defense and 
a workhorse offense, won the inaugural Southeastern Conference 
Championship game and the National Championship in classic wins over 
the University of Florida Gators and the University of Miami 
Hurricanes. Scenes from these great moments in Crimson Tide history are 
to this day replayed before each and every game at Bryant-Denny 
Stadium.
  In November of 1996, and after coaching the Crimson Tide to seventy 
victories in 7 years, Stallings announced that he would retire from 
football for the one thing that he loved more: his son John Mark 
Stallings. John Mark was born with Down syndrome and was not expected 
to live past the age of four. He lived 46 years, proving that uncommon 
strength is a common trait in the Stallings household.

[[Page 11088]]

  Though he was greatly missed at the Capstone, it was not hard to 
understand why Coach Stallings left for his son. John Mark, himself, 
was much beloved by the Crimson Tide family. The equipment room at the 
football complex is even named in his honor. John Mark was known for 
his ability to positively impact the people around him with his kind 
nature and genuine interest in their lives. After his passing, 
athletics director Mal Moore stated that ``For someone who never played 
or coached a game, I think John Mark may have touched more Alabama fans 
than any other person ever did.''
  By anyone else's standards, Coach Stallings' time in Tuscaloosa was 
his most successful, but Stallings doesn't measure success in wins, 
trophies, and championships. He measures his success by the lives that 
he has positively affected. As a football coach, he did so by 
instilling the values of character, discipline, and integrity in young 
men. He did just that at every stop on his coaching path, and, even 
after football, he continues to succeed in affecting his community and 
our Nation.
  John Mark inspired his father to advocate on behalf of persons with 
disabilities. Coach Stallings worked to start a golf tournament to 
benefit the Arc of Tuscaloosa County, a local nonprofit organization 
devoted to helping the intellectually and developmentally disabled. 
This tournament raised more than $1 million for the program by the time 
he left Tuscaloosa in 1996.
  Stallings has also been a prolific fundraiser for the RISE School at 
the University of Alabama, which provides family-oriented services to 
children with developmental disabilities. When he returned to the 
Capstone, the RISE School had devoted educators and a special cause, 
but the underfunded program languished in subpar facilities. RISE's 
staff worried that each year would be their last.
  The value of RISE was not truly known nor its potential realized 
until Coach Stallings came on the scene. Following a 2-year capital 
campaign, the RISE School moved to a state-of-the-art building with six 
classrooms that serve more than 80 students. This beautiful building on 
the Alabama campus is named the Stallings Center in honor of Coach 
Stallings' tireless efforts on RISE's behalf, and John Mark is 
remembered at the school's playground, which is named for him.
  With John Mark's inspiration and Coach Stallings' signature work 
ethic, the RISE program spread from Tuscaloosa to Austin, Corpus 
Christi, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Stillwater. Today, families 
across the country can receive early intervention services for their 
young children with disabilities. The dedicated teachers and 
administrators of the RISE program teach these children what they can 
do, rather than what they cannot.
  For enduring the trials of Junction, for passing on these lessons of 
character, and for helping to grow a culture that embraces and 
encourages persons with disabilities, Eugene Clifton Stallings has 
certainly proven himself worthy of being immortalized in the College 
Football Hall of Fame.
  On behalf of the University of Alabama, the Crimson Tide faithful, 
and the whole of the great State of Alabama, I thank Coach Stallings 
for his contributions to my alma mater and our community. We are truly 
fortunate for the examples he has set as a player, coach and 
philanthropist.

                          ____________________