House Bill 9179

    Florida House of Representatives - 1999                HR 9179

        By Representative Lawson






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution in recognition of the Florida A&M

  3         University Rattlers men's basketball team.

  4

  5         WHEREAS, Florida A&M University's men's basketball team

  6  began its 1998-1999 season with an 0-10 record, losing 13 of

  7  its first 14 games for the team's second worst start in school

  8  history, and

  9         WHEREAS, however, on March 6, 1999, the Florida A&M

10  University men's basketball team defeated South Carolina State

11  by the score of 64-61, thus becoming the Mid-Eastern Athletic

12  Conference Champions and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA

13  Men's Basketball Tournament, and

14         WHEREAS, in a truly remarkable turnaround to their

15  season, the Rattlers, who were seeded seventh in the MEAC

16  Tournament, beat the top three seeded teams in the tournament

17  to win their first conference championship since 1991, thus

18  becoming the lowest seeded team in league history to win the

19  automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and

20         WHEREAS, in a turn of events that enhanced the team's

21  already-acquired underdog mystique to the greatest possible

22  degree, the No. 16-seed Rattlers were paired in the opening

23  round of the NCAA Tournament against what many consider to be

24  the top college team in the nation and perhaps one of the best

25  college teams to ever play basketball, the No. 1-seed Duke

26  Blue Devils, and

27         WHEREAS, the efforts of Head Coach Mickey Clayton, the

28  Rattler assistant coaches, and the players which placed them

29  in the 1999 NCAA Tournament has garnered considerable media

30  attention for the Rattlers across the country, and

31

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1999                HR 9179

    113-282A-99






  1         WHEREAS, reporting of the Rattlers' story yielded

  2  consistent analyses of Florida A&M's success, all of which

  3  centered on perseverance, commitment, and the determination to

  4  never give up, and

  5         WHEREAS, the 1998-1999 Florida A&M University Rattlers

  6  men's basketball team has earned its rightful place in the

  7  litany of memorable underdogs in the world of sports, and

  8         WHEREAS, it is fitting and appropriate that the Florida

  9  House of Representatives recognize the 1998-1999 Florida A&M

10  University Rattlers men's basketball team for its exceptional

11  regular season and for its invitation to the 1999 NCAA Men's

12  Basketball Tournament, NOW, THEREFORE,

13

14  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

15  Florida:

16

17         That the House of Representatives of the State of

18  Florida hereby recognizes the Florida A&M University Rattlers

19  men's basketball team and offers its congratulations to the

20  players, coaches, and staff for winning the 1999 Mid-Eastern

21  Atlantic Conference Championship and for its invitation to the

22  1999 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

23         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution

24  be transmitted to the members of the 1998-1999 Florida A&M

25  University men's basketball team, John Cuyler, Kevin George,

26  James Harris, Travis Grant, Kendric Green, Clayton Jenkins,

27  Brian Johnson, Jamie Johnson, Derrick Magee, Frank Oilver,

28  Monroe Pippins, Jamaal Rhodes, Rod Seay, Morris Scott, and

29  Eric Tubbs, to assistant coaches Jim Baxter and Melvin Smith,

30  and to Head Coach Mickey Clayton as a tangible token of the

31  sentiments expressed herein.

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