Full Text of HR0600 93rd General Assembly
HR0600 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are pleased to recognize notable achievements | 4 |
| in college football in the State of Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, Among the nation's 117 National Collegiate | 6 |
| Athletic Association Division 1-A major-college football | 7 |
| programs, Northern Illinois tied for the nation's third-best | 8 |
| won-lost record this season at 10-2 and ranked in the Top 10; | 9 |
| the teams with the top regular-season records were Oklahoma | 10 |
| (12-1), Louisiana State (12-1), Miami (Ohio) (12-1), Boise | 11 |
| State (12-1), Southern California (11-1), Texas Christian | 12 |
| (11-1), Northern Illinois (10-2), Ohio State (10-2), Florida | 13 |
| State (10-2), Miami (Florida)(10-2), Michigan (10-2), and | 14 |
| Texas (10-2); and
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| WHEREAS, Northern Illinois University was the first | 16 |
| Mid-American Conference football program to beat two Top 25 | 17 |
| Bowl Championship Series opponents -- No.13/No.15 Maryland and | 18 |
| No. 21 Alabama -- in the same season; the Huskies also set a | 19 |
| school record with a third triumph over a BCS program (Iowa | 20 |
| State) this year; and
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| WHEREAS, Northern Illinois led the official 2003 coaches' | 22 |
| All-Mid-American Conference team with 10 all-league | 23 |
| performers, including a school record seven First-Team All-MAC | 24 |
| selections; Miami (Ohio) placed second with nine All-MAC | 25 |
| players; NIU also led the MAC West Division in league Player of | 26 |
| the Week awards; and
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| WHEREAS, The Huskies were led through their 2003 season by | 28 |
| the nationally distinguished Head Football Coach Joe Novak; and
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| WHEREAS, Head Coach Novak's efforts to revitalize the | 30 |
| Huskies football program have inspired staff, players, and NIU |
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| students to embrace the virtues of integrity, loyalty, and | 2 |
| respect; these values are echoed with his team's steady ascent | 3 |
| into the Mid-American Conference's upper echelon the last four | 4 |
| years; and
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| WHEREAS, Coach Novak was named the 2003 Region 3 Division | 6 |
| 1-A Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches | 7 |
| Association and was among 11 candidates for the prestigious | 8 |
| 2003 Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award; and
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| WHEREAS, NIU has four graduating seniors and two coaches in | 10 |
| post-season all-star games: Tailback Michael Turner (East-West | 11 |
| Shrine Classic and Senior Bowl), cornerback Randee Drew (Las | 12 |
| Vegas All-American Classic and Blue-Gray Game), placekicker | 13 |
| Steve Azar (Blue-Gray Game and Hula Bowl), strong safety Akil | 14 |
| Grant (The Villages Gridiron Classic), plus head coach Joe | 15 |
| Novak (Blue-Gray Game), and defensive coordinator Scott Shafer | 16 |
| (Blue-Gray Game); and
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| WHEREAS, Northern Illinois is one of the only two | 18 |
| major-college programs this season to feature a 1,500-yard | 19 |
| rusher (tailback Michael Turner with 1,648), a 2,500-yard | 20 |
| passer (quarterback Josh Haldi with 2,544), and a 1,000-yard | 21 |
| receiver (split end P.J. Fleck with 1,028 yards); the other | 22 |
| school was Michigan; and
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| WHEREAS, NIU began the season with five student-athletes | 24 |
| mentioned on seven national award "watch lists": tailback | 25 |
| Michael Turner (Doak Walker National Runningback Award and | 26 |
| Walter Camp Player of the Year Award), center Todd Ghilani | 27 |
| (Outland Trophy and Rimington Award), placekicker Steve Azar | 28 |
| (Lou Groza National Placekicker Award), linebacker Nick Duffy | 29 |
| (Butkus Award), and defensive end Travis Moore | 30 |
| (Rotary-Lombardi Award); and
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| WHEREAS, During the regular season, Northern Illinois |
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| tailback Michael "The Burner" Turner was the nation's Number 1 | 2 |
| active career rusher and finished Number 13 on the all-time | 3 |
| NCAA major-college rushing list with 4,941 career yards; he is | 4 |
| the Number 2 all-time rusher in the Mid-American history and | 5 |
| Number 1 in the NIU record book; and
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| WHEREAS, NIU senior split end P.J. Fleck was named to the | 7 |
| 2003 College Sports Information Directors of America | 8 |
| Second-Team Academic All-America squad; during the season, he | 9 |
| was the USA Today.com National Player of the Week for his | 10 |
| record-setting performance vs. Ohio (14 receptions for an | 11 |
| NIU-record 234 yards and one touchdown); and
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| WHEREAS, NIU senior tailback Michael Turner was named to | 13 |
| the 2003 The Sporting News Second-Team All-America, 2003 | 14 |
| Associated Press Second-Team All-America and 2003 CNN-Sports | 15 |
| Illustrated Second-Team All-America squads; the frosh | 16 |
| offensive tackle Doug Free was named to the 2003 The Sporting | 17 |
| News Third-Team Frosh All-America unit; and Steve Azar was | 18 |
| named to the 2003 Collegefootballnews.com Honorable Mention | 19 |
| All-American Team; and
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| WHEREAS, Northern Illinois established a new home | 21 |
| attendance record, averaging 23,575 spectators per game in | 22 |
| seven home dates this season; NIU had three sellout crowds on | 23 |
| Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium this year, Maryland (28,018), | 24 |
| Iowa State (28,218), and Homecoming versus Western Michigan | 25 |
| (28,221); and
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| WHEREAS, Assistant Coaches for the 2003 Huskies are Scott | 27 |
| Shafer, Matt Canada, Bill Bleil, DeAndre Smith, Sam Pittman, | 28 |
| Greg Bower, George McDonald, Mike Sabock, and Denny Doornbos; | 29 |
| support personnel are Phil Voorhis, Dick Townsend, Tim Daoust, | 30 |
| Alan Rood, John Hauser, Julie Edwards, and Joyce James; and
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| WHEREAS, The members of the 2003 Huskies are Chris Acevedo,
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| Aaron Anderson,
Brian Atkinson,
Steve Azar,
Arian Bagheri,
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| Mario Balistreri,
Dallas Bassett,
Brad Benson,
Keenan Blalark,
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| Brent Blaschka,
Andre Brown,
Charnzie Carey,
Jarret Carter,
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| Efrain Cervantes,
Foster Chambers,
Brad Cieslak,
Leonard | 5 |
| Cooksey,
Curtis Crossley,
Adrian Davis,
Brandon Davis,
Keafta | 6 |
| Dokes,
Randee Drew,
Nick Duffy,
Jake Ebenhoch,
Joel Ellis,
Shea | 7 |
| Fitzgerald,
P.J. Fleck,
Devron Francis,
Jason Frank,
Doug Free,
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| Anthony Gallagher,
Todd Ghilani,
Ryan Gilbert,
Akil Grant,
Josh | 9 |
| Haldi,
Adriel Hansbro,
Alvah Hansbro,
A.J. Harris,
Jason | 10 |
| Hawkins, Lionel Hickenbottom,
Joe Hilby,
Quince Holman,
Phil | 11 |
| Horvath,
Greg Huebbe,
Sam Hurd,
Jason Hutton,
Frank Irby,
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| Dossie Jennings,
Charles Johnson,
Javan Lee,
Rob Lee,
Andy | 13 |
| Lothson,
Ben Lueck,
Pat McCabe,
David McDermott,
Justin | 14 |
| McIntyre,
Mychael McKay,
Bob McLearen,
Aleks Miskov,
Travis | 15 |
| Moore,
Andre Morris,
Shedrick Mossman,
Lorenzo Nichols,
Jake | 16 |
| Nordin,
Jason Orozco,
Mark Orszula,
Greg Owens,
Dan Passarelli,
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| Keith Perry,
Eric Pittman,
Shatone Powers,
Cas Prime,
Jeremy | 18 |
| Pugh,
Turner Pugh,
Pat Raleigh,
Aaron Reese,
Mark Reiter,
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| Vinson Reynolds,
Edgar Rodriguez,
Matt Rogers, Chris Salvant,
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| Adam Schroeder,
Shaun Schroeder,
Kevin Serfort,
Dan Sheldon,
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| Deon Smith,
Ray Smith,
Anthony Spacucello,
Kursten Strothman,
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| Nickolas Sykes,
Gerard Taylor,
Joe Thomas,
Jimmy Toussaint,
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| Dennis Tovar,
Antonio Tribble,
Michael Turner,
Zach Ullrich,
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| Dustin Utschig,
Brian Van Acker,
Jake VerStraete,
Robert | 25 |
| Wallace,
Marlon Watson,
Ken West,
Martin Wilson,
Garrett Wolfe,
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| Seren Woodfork,
and Kevin Woods; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 28 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 29 |
| congratulate Head Coach Joe Novak and the Northern Illinois | 30 |
| University Huskies for a successful 2003 season; and be it | 31 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 33 |
| presented to each of the coaches, staff, and members of the | 34 |
| Northern Illinois University football team as an expression of |
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| our esteem and with our best wishes for their future success.
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