Bill Text: TX HR1609 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Congratulating the Wiley College debate team on winning the 2014 Pi Kappa Delta national debate championship.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-04-28 - Reported enrolled [HR1609 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HR1609-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 1609 |
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WHEREAS, The Wiley College debate team of Marshall won the | ||
2014 Pi Kappa Delta Comprehensive National Tournament in March, and | ||
this achievement indeed merits special recognition; and | ||
WHEREAS, Composed of 23 first- and second-year students, the | ||
team competed with the best debaters from 80 colleges and | ||
universities at the largest Pi Kappa Delta tournament ever held; | ||
after the winning totals were calculated, Wiley College emerged on | ||
top with 60 awards; this was an impressive finish to a season that | ||
included 373 tournament wins and several exhibition debates; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Wiley College debate team has grown out of a rich | ||
and storied past; the historically black college was founded in | ||
1873 and is one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River; the | ||
original debate team, which formed when Coach Melvin B. Tolson came | ||
to the college in 1924, was not allowed to join Pi Kappa Delta, the | ||
national forensics fraternity; nonetheless, they continued to | ||
compete and in 1935 won a debate against the University of Southern | ||
California, that year's Pi Kappa Delta national champions; and | ||
WHEREAS, After Coach Tolson left the college in 1947, the | ||
debate team disbanded; 60 years later, interest was revived when | ||
Denzel Washington directed and acted in The Great Debaters, which | ||
brought the drama of the 1935 debate team to the silver screen; | ||
Mr. Washington later donated $1 million to Wiley College, and the | ||
school's debate team was reestablished and named the Melvin B. | ||
Tolson/Denzel Washington Forensics Society; and | ||
WHEREAS, Under the guidance of Coach Chris Medina, the 2014 | ||
team truly earned the title of "The Great Debaters" over the course | ||
of their notable season, which also included winning the tournament | ||
at the Junior Varsity National Championships; they dedicated their | ||
Pi Kappa Delta victory to Coach Tolson's teams from 1924 to 1947; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, The talented young men and women of the Wiley | ||
College 2014 debate team have demonstrated outstanding skill and | ||
dedication, and they are a source of great pride to their families | ||
and school; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby congratulate the Wiley College debate team on | ||
winning the 2014 Pi Kappa Delta Comprehensive National Tournament | ||
and extend to the members and Coach Medina sincere best wishes for | ||
the future; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
prepared for the team as an expression of high regard by the Texas | ||
House of Representatives. | ||
Paddie | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 1609 was adopted by the House on April | ||
23, 2015, by a non-record vote. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||