Sen. Durbin honors Callahan

The Southern

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, spoke about Southern Illinois University Coach Dan Callahan on the floor of the Senate Wednesday.

"In his famous farewell to baseball speech two years earlier, Lou Gehrig had called himself ‘the luckiest man on the face of this earth' because he had been able to play a game he loved, and he had a family he loved with all his heart," Durbin said.

"Dan Callahan felt that same way about himself, and for the same reasons. Whether he was the luckiest man on earth, I don't know. But I do know that all of us who had the good fortune to know him were lucky. We were inspired by his courage and dignity. And we will miss him."

Callahan died Monday at his home in Carterville, ending a battle with cancer he had fought since 2006. He was 52-years-old.