Florida Senate - 2024                            (NP)    SR 1232
       
       
        
       By Senator Rouson
       
       
       
       
       
       16-01876-24                                           20241232__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing and honoring the Florida A&M
    3         University Rattlers football team for winning the 2023
    4         HBCU National Championship.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, on December 16, 2023, the Florida A&M University
    7  Rattlers football team clinched the 2023 Historically Black
    8  College and University (HBCU) National Championship with a 30-26
    9  victory over the Howard University Bison in the Celebration
   10  Bowl, held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, and
   11         WHEREAS, Head Coach Willie Simmons led the Rattlers to
   12  their best season since 1998, winning 10 regular season games,
   13  the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship, and
   14  ultimately the HBCU National Championship in the Rattlers’
   15  first-ever appearance in the Celebration Bowl, and
   16         WHEREAS, even before the season began, as the team endured
   17  arduous training in the hot and humid summer, Coach Simmons told
   18  his players that they could be exceptional and that they could
   19  be remembered as one of the greatest teams in FAMU history, and
   20         WHEREAS, the gold standard was set in 1978, when the
   21  Rattlers became the first and only HBCU team to win the national
   22  championship in Division I-AA, now called the Football
   23  Championship Subdivision, and
   24         WHEREAS, 45 years after that historic victory, the Rattlers
   25  made more history by beating Howard in the Celebration Bowl,
   26  winning the HBCU National Championship in front of more than
   27  41,000 fans, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and over 2
   28  million viewers watching from home, and
   29         WHEREAS, in front of the nation and the world, the evidence
   30  is clear that the young men in orange and green are building a
   31  championship culture of excellence, NOW, THEREFORE,
   32  
   33  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         That the Florida A&M University Rattlers football team is
   36  recognized and congratulated for winning the 2023 HBCU National
   37  Championship as part of a remarkable 12-1 season.
   38         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida A&M University
   39  Rattlers football team is celebrated, as is the university’s
   40  commitment to both academic and athletic excellence, for
   41  creating a collegiate presence that is nationally renowned.
   42         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   43  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Florida A&M
   44  University President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., Director of
   45  Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes, Head Coach Willie Simmons, the
   46  Rattlers coaching staff, and the members of the Florida A&M
   47  University Rattlers football team as a tangible token of the
   48  sentiments of the Florida Senate.