House Resolution 101 - Introduced HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 101 BY McCONKEY , JACOBSEN , and SIEGRIST A Resolution honoring the Paralympic achievements of 1 Mr. Josh Turek. 2 WHEREAS, the life and career of Iowa native Josh 3 Turek, from Council Bluffs, is a testament to the 4 value of hard work and dedication to achieving success 5 through teamwork; and 6 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek pursued his passion to excel in 7 athletics through perseverance, hard work, discipline, 8 sacrifice, and dedication to perfecting his craft, 9 and all the while never forgot a lesson taught to him 10 by his father early on in his life to put forth one 11 hundred percent effort in all his endeavors; and 12 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek represented Team U.S.A. in 13 wheelchair basketball in four Paralympic Games, 14 competing in 2004, 2012, 2016, and 2021; and 15 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek built a reputation as a 16 world-class shooter and excelled under pressure in 17 pursuit of winning a Paralympic gold medal; and 18 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek, driven by his passion and 19 unwavering desire to achieve his goals, earned a place 20 on his first Paralympic team in 2004, then won a bronze 21 medal in 2012 while leading the team in points scored 22 and rebounds; and 23 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek and his team earned the first 24 U.S.A. Paralympic men’s wheelchair basketball gold 25 medal in 28 years at the 2016 Paralympic Games, 26 displaying a style of wheelchair basketball that marked 27 the team as the statistically greatest in Paralympic 28 -1- LSB 5461YH (6) 89 th/rn 1/ 2
H.R. 101 history; and 1 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek hit clutch free throws to help 2 seal victories in the medal round games of the 2020 3 Paralympic Games, played in Tokyo in 2021, finishing 4 his career and earning his second Paralympic gold 5 medal; and 6 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek announced his retirement from 7 national team wheelchair basketball competitions to 8 focus his attention on off-the-court goals, having 9 earned a silver medal in the world championships in 10 2014, three Pan American Games gold medals in 2011, 11 2015, and 2019, and three Paralympic medals, a bronze 12 medal in 2012 and back-to-back gold medals in 2016 and 13 2021; and 14 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek has already achieved personal 15 success in a variety of pursuits, but continues to work 16 to improve himself, as evidenced by his commitment 17 to education and his current goal to earn a master’s 18 degree; and 19 WHEREAS, Mr. Turek has inspired many and shown the 20 value of hard work, teamwork, and dedication to his 21 craft; NOW THEREFORE, 22 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 23 That the House of Representatives honors Mr. Josh 24 Turek, whose effort, dedication, skill, attitude, and 25 refusal to settle allowed him to achieve Paralympic 26 gold success, both on and off the court. 27 -2- LSB 5461YH (6) 89 th/rn 2/ 2