House Bill 9005

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9005

        By Representative Flanagan






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution recognizing Bruce Meade, national

  3         softball Hall of Famer and Manatee County

  4         Sheriff's Deputy.

  5

  6         WHEREAS, Sheriff's Deputy Bruce Meade was honored on

  7  his 50th birthday, September 1, 1999, with the observance of

  8  "Bruce Meade Day in Manatee County," and

  9         WHEREAS, having taken up softball as a fifth-grader,

10  only to abandon it for football and javelin and discus

11  throwing in high school and college, Bruce Meade returned to

12  the sport in his junior year at East Tennessee State

13  University and began what was to become a legendary career in

14  softball, and

15         WHEREAS, having been urged to join a softball league

16  after his return to Manatee County in the 1970s, Bruce Meade

17  is now known throughout the nation for his hitting prowess, is

18  holder of the Amateur Softball Association All-Star world

19  record for a home run of 510 feet, has made more than 3,500

20  home runs during the peak of his career from 1974 to 1993, and

21  was named an Amateur Softball Association All-Star 11 times,

22  and

23         WHEREAS, Bruce Meade is the first softball player to

24  have had a day declared in his honor by the Governor of

25  Oklahoma, who compared him to baseball great Mickey Mantle and

26  multisport athlete Jim Thorpe, and his name has been adopted

27  by several annual softball tournaments around the nation,

28  including the "Bruce Meade Hall of Fame Classic" in Phoenix,

29  Arizona, and

30         WHEREAS, Bruce Meade has been inducted into the United

31  States Slow-pitch Softball Association Hall of Fame, the

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HR 9005

    570-160A-00






  1  National Softball Association Hall of Fame, and, as recently

  2  as July 3, 1999, the Amateur Softball Hall of Fame in Oklahoma

  3  City, and

  4         WHEREAS, since his retirement from full-time softball

  5  in 1993, Bruce Meade still plays to assist charitable causes,

  6  especially those involving children, and is always ready to

  7  oblige those youngsters who seek his autograph and marvel at

  8  his hitting displays, and

  9         WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that nationally

10  recognized softball player Bruce Meade be congratulated for

11  his many accomplishments and the numerous honors he has

12  received as a result of his softball career, and for his

13  dedication as a sheriff's deputy in Manatee County, NOW,

14  THEREFORE,

15

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

17  Florida:

18

19         That the Florida House of Representatives endorses the

20  very deserving honor accorded Bruce Meade by the observance of

21  "Bruce Meade Day in Manatee County" on the occasion of his

22  50th birthday on September 1, 1999, and extends sincerest

23  wishes in his continued endeavors.

24         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution

25  be presented to Sheriff's Deputy Bruce Meade as a tangible

26  token of the sentiments expressed herein.

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