[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10226]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRATULATING DR. ED HIGHTOWER ON HIS UPCOMING RETIREMENT

  (Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 
and congratulate Dr. Ed Hightower on his upcoming retirement.
  Many of you may know Dr. Hightower from his time as a college 
basketball referee, working 12 NCAA Final Fours and countless games for 
the Big Ten and the Big East. He was also named the Men's College 
Basketball Official of the Year in 1992, and he was inducted into the 
Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1998.
  Off the court, Dr. Hightower is a true community leader and a public 
servant. Ed Hightower has been an educator for 40 years, serving as a 
teacher, a principal, and an administrator. He has received three 
degrees from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a doctorate 
from St. Louis University.
  In 1996, he was hired as the first African American superintendent in 
Edwardsville school district history, a job that he is wrapping up at 
the end of the 2014-2015 school year.
  On Dr. Hightower's watch, the Edwardsville school district saw 
incredible growth, doubling in population, requiring a new high school, 
a second middle school and other buildings, and weathered the same 
economic crisis that challenged all local school districts.
  Thank you for your decades of service to our students, Dr. Hightower. 
Thank you for your leadership and your ability to always put the 
education of our children first in all of your decisions.
  Enjoy your final year as superintendent, and good luck in your 
retirement.

                          ____________________