SR0651 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0651 LRB100 13249 MST 27683 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks of Evanston, who passed away on June 16, 2017; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Roy and Fannie Fuller Hicks on March 3, 1927; his family moved to Evanston in 1930 when he was three and he attended Foster Elementary School and Evanston Township High School; he played the violin in accompaniment to his mother's poetry readings until his mid-teens when he joined the baseball team, where he excelled as a pitcher for the Evanston Flashes; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was drafted into the United States Army Air Corps midway through his senior year in high school during World War II; on his return from the Philippines, he earned his G.E.D. and was considering going to college to get an engineering degree when he decided to test for a position with the Evanston Fire Department; on November 1, 1950, he became Evanston's first African American firefighter; he became a captain in 1963; in 1973, he became the assistant chief training officer; in 1980, he became the first African American fire chief and served in that position until August of 1987, when he retired; in 2015, the Central Headquarters Training Room at the Evanston Fire Department was dedicated to him; he was a member of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks started the Evanston Speedskating Club in 1966; he was the first coach of Shani Davis, the first African American to win a medal in the Winter Olympics; he worked for many years with the Amateur Skating Association of Illinois and the Amateur Speedskating Union of the U.S., for which he was the Commissioner of Officials from 1988 to 1993; in May of 1999, he was inducted into the U.S. Speedskating Hall of Fame; he conducted International Speedskating Union starters' clinics and promoted the use of appropriate medical procedures at national championships; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was honored with a number of lifetime memberships, among them the Amateur Speedskating Union of the U.S., the Amateur Skating Association of Illinois, Optimists International, and the U.S. Speedskating Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was an avid photographer; he began shooting weddings, cotillions, and accident sites for lawyers; he then graduated to portraits of blues musicians that were displayed on club walls, CD covers, naturescapes, and his special love, capturing skaters coming round the curve during skating meets; he was a member of the Professional Photographers of America; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was preceded in death by his four-year-old son, Sanders Ellis Hicks; his parents; his brother, Ellis Hicks; and his sisters, Frances Hicks, Harriet Thompson, and Alice Tregay; and

WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks is survived by his loving wife, Karen Alysia Lee; his sons, Stanley Brady Hicks and Michael Jon (Jill) Walter; his grandchildren, Jake and Kate Walter; his brother-in-law, James Tregay; and many loving cousins, nieces and nephews, colleagues and friends; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks, and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Sanders Hicks as an expression of our deepest sympathy.