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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks of Evanston, who
4passed away on June 16, 2017; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Roy
6and Fannie Fuller Hicks on March 3, 1927; his family moved to
7Evanston in 1930 when he was three and he attended Foster
8Elementary School and Evanston Township High School; he played
9the violin in accompaniment to his mother's poetry readings
10until his mid-teens when he joined the baseball team, where he
11excelled as a pitcher for the Evanston Flashes; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was drafted into the United States
13Army Air Corps midway through his senior year in high school
14during World War II; on his return from the Philippines, he
15earned his G.E.D. and was considering going to college to get
16an engineering degree when he decided to test for a position
17with the Evanston Fire Department; on November 1, 1950, he
18became Evanston's first African American firefighter; he
19became a captain in 1963; in 1973, he became the assistant
20chief training officer; in 1980, he became the first African
21American fire chief and served in that position until August of
221987, when he retired; in 2015, the Central Headquarters
23Training Room at the Evanston Fire Department was dedicated to

 

 

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1him; he was a member of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association;
2and
 
3    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks started the Evanston Speedskating
4Club in 1966; he was the first coach of Shani Davis, the first
5African American to win a medal in the Winter Olympics; he
6worked for many years with the Amateur Skating Association of
7Illinois and the Amateur Speedskating Union of the U.S., for
8which he was the Commissioner of Officials from 1988 to 1993;
9in May of 1999, he was inducted into the U.S. Speedskating Hall
10of Fame; he conducted International Speedskating Union
11starters' clinics and promoted the use of appropriate medical
12procedures at national championships; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was honored with a number of
14lifetime memberships, among them the Amateur Speedskating
15Union of the U.S., the Amateur Skating Association of Illinois,
16Optimists International, and the U.S. Speedskating Hall of
17Fame; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was an avid photographer; he began
19shooting weddings, cotillions, and accident sites for lawyers;
20he then graduated to portraits of blues musicians that were
21displayed on club walls, CD covers, naturescapes, and his
22special love, capturing skaters coming round the curve during
23skating meets; he was a member of the Professional

 

 

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1Photographers of America; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was preceded in death by his
3four-year-old son, Sanders Ellis Hicks; his parents; his
4brother, Ellis Hicks; and his sisters, Frances Hicks, Harriet
5Thompson, and Alice Tregay; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks is survived by his loving wife,
7Karen Alysia Lee; his sons, Stanley Brady Hicks and Michael Jon
8(Jill) Walter; his grandchildren, Jake and Kate Walter; his
9brother-in-law, James Tregay; and many loving cousins, nieces
10and nephews, colleagues and friends; therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
13Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks, and extend our sincere condolences to
14his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
15further
 
16    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
17presented to the family of Sanders Hicks as an expression of
18our deepest sympathy.