[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8691]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING PETE VONACHEN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a generous, 
genuine Illinoisan we lost this week.
  Those of us who have watched and listened to Chicago Cubs' games for 
some time can easily recall Harry Caray. His booming voice was 
instantly recognizable as the voice of the Cubs--and fans fondly 
remember his celebrations of their triumphs and his deeply felt sorrow 
at more than a few of their disappointments.
  Some of us may even recall his bright voice welcoming one of his 
closest friends to the broadcasting booth with the words: ``and here 
today, from Peoria, Pete Vonachen!''
  I am sad to say that Pete Vonachen passed away--peacefully--this 
week. Pete was an enthusiastic, colorful, and memorable person. He 
loved Peoria, baseball, and the Cubs. You could tell that he bled Cubs 
blue--especially, as one friend explained, in 2005. That was the year 
that the White Sox won the World Series.
  After running a successful restaurant and making his name in the 
Peoria business community, he bought the local minor league team and 
struck an affiliation with his favorite Chicago team. The Peoria Chiefs 
soon had the highest attendance of any team in the Midwest League. A 
decade later, they renamed the ballpark they called home to Pete 
Vonachen Stadium. They even put a statue of him just inside the main 
gate of their new stadium.
  That statue was surrounded with flowers and baseballs placed by fans 
Monday night as the Chiefs took the field against the Quad Cities River 
Bandits. And, after a moment of silence to honor his memory, the Chiefs 
won. The Cubs held a moment of silence for him as well at Wrigley Field 
Monday.
  Pete Vonachen will be missed by his family, his many friends and 
those who loved him in Peoria, and the entire Illinois baseball 
community.
  We will remember Pete and his tremendous line, ``Have a great day, 
and keep swingin'.''

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