[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5054]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DEBATE COACH WILLIAM ``BILLY'' TATE, 
                                  JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and 
pay tribute to the life and legacy of William Woods Tate, Jr., a 
beloved educator and high school debate coach, who was an extraordinary 
mentor to me and so many others. Coach Billy Tate, as he was known, was 
an accomplished speech and debate coach in Alabama and Tennessee for 
over 40 years. Coach Tate, sadly, passed away suddenly on Saturday, 
April 6, 2013, at the age of 69, leaving behind a legacy defined by his 
commitment to developing the oratorical skills of future leaders.
  At the time of his death, Coach Tate was a five-diamond debate coach 
at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, where he taught 
speech and coached winning debate teams for more than 30 years. He was 
an outstanding teacher and an inspirational leader in the National 
Forensic League, the oldest and largest honor society for high school 
students in speech and debate.
  During his illustrious career, Coach Tate had multiple national 
finalists in policy debate and extemporaneous speaking. In 1999, his 
policy debate team reached the national finals, and in 2006 Coach Billy 
Tate made coaching history as two of his policy teams closed out the 
national finals winning the first-ever NFL co-citizenship in policy 
debate.
  He was an extraordinary individual. Not only did he teach his 
students so brilliantly. In his spare time, he loved bridge. He was a 
devoted son, who always saw to the care of his beloved mother in Selma. 
Coach Tate also managed to keep up with his debate students through the 
years and relished their life successes. He demanded excellence from 
his students, teaching them not only the importance of debate prep and 
strategy, but also took great pride in exposing his students to the 
very best restaurants, and that included important table etiquette that 
accompanied such an experience.
  Although Coach Tate spent the bulk of his career at Montgomery Bell 
Academy in Nashville, he began his speech and debate experience in 1975 
at Selma High School in his beloved town of Selma, Alabama. I know that 
his students at Montgomery Bell Academy believe they had his best 
coaching years; but I am here to tell you from personal experience that 
the 1970s and 1980s at Selma High School honed his craft and greatly 
influenced his strategy. He produced some of the finest high school 
debaters the State of Alabama has ever seen to date, and I am proud to 
say that I was one of those students.
  Billy Tate was my debate coach for 3 years at Selma High School. For 
a public high school in rural Alabama, we dominated the competition and 
won many State championships. For many years, the walls of Selma High 
School's library were lined with the hundreds of debate and speech 
trophies won by the teams coached by Billy Tate. Debate was more than 
an average extracurricular activity; it was a serious discipline. Those 
of us who had the privilege of being coached by him knew that it was a 
serious time commitment, a commitment of both time, money, and talent.
  To be on Billy Tate's debate team, a student had to commit to 
attending summer debate camps and countless weekend travel to 
tournaments all across Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia 
during the academic year. It was not the average debate class. I know 
that my life journey would not have been possible were it not for my 
debate experience under the tutelage of Coach Billy Tate at Selma High 
School.
  I know that I speak on behalf of all the debaters at Selma High 
School and Montgomery Bell Academy in expressing our sincere gratitude 
for Coach Tate's guidance, his dedication, and unwavering belief in our 
abilities. I especially dedicate this tribute to the Selma High School 
debaters I had the privilege of competing with--Tom Bundenthal, 
Lawrence ``Bubba'' Wall, Derek Edwards, Max Andrews, John Polk, Leslie 
Looper, and Crystal Boykin, to name a few.
  To say thank you to Coach Tate seems woefully inadequate, but I do 
take comfort in knowing that his legacy will live on through those of 
us he influenced. May Coach Billy Tate always be remembered for the 
excellence he inspired in all of us.
  Today, I ask my colleagues in the United States Congress to join with 
me and the hundreds of debaters he taught in his 40 years of coaching 
in celebrating the life and legacy of a native Alabamian and a 
nationally renowned debate coach, Mr. William Woods Tate, Jr.

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