Lloyd Bentsen: “I rise in proud recognition of a great athlete and legend in the City of Houston, Clyde Drexler, on the occasion of his…”

“I rise in proud recognition of a great athlete and legend in the City of Houston, Clyde Drexler, on the occasion of his retirement from the Houston Rockets and the National Basketball Association. Clyde "the Glide" Drexler had an impressive 15-year career in the NBA, but many people in Houston remember him first from his days with the University of Houston Cougars in the early 1980s. Under the leadership of head coach Guy V. Lewis, Drexler and his future NBA teammate, Hakeem Olajuwon, took the Cougars to the NCAA's Final Four in 1982, with Clyde averaging 15.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. In 1983, Drexler earned first-team All-America honors after leading the Cougars to their second straight NCAA Final Four in the first national championship game. The Cougars, known as Phi Slamma Jamma, ended the year 31-3 and won their first Southwest Conference regular season championship with a perfect 16-0 record, and were ranked atop the national polls. Drexler is the only Cougar to amass more than 1,000 points, 900 rebounds, 300 assists, and 250 steals in a career. His 268 career steals remain as a UH record. A first round selection of the Portland Trail Blazers in 1983, Drexler led the team to two NBA finals and made the playoffs in each of his 15 seasons. A member of the original Olympic Dream Team, Drexler won a gold medal in Barcelona in 1992.”