Congressional Record—Senate S 8083
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June 9, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð SENATE S 8083 within a period of time after the dece- Cosic said riches weren't as important as lost a former player; it's that with the pass- dent dies, all or part of the reduced tax his country and helping The Church of Jesus ing of Cosic, a little of the joy was lost from rate may be recaptured. Christ of Latterday Saints. the game, too. Because nobody played for the The legislation will allow families to He returned to Yugoslavia and almost sin- joy of it all like Cosic. gle-handedly turned it into a basketball pow- He arrived on the BYU varsity basketball leave their businesses in the hands of erhouse with world and European champion- scene in 1970 like a cool wind off the Adriatic family members, or trusted, long-term ships. He found and developed players such Sea, where he played as a child. He was a employees of the business. as the Chicago Bulls' Toni Kukoc (a Croat) gangly summation of tendons and bones, The bill will also extend the period of and the Lakers' Vlade Divac (a Serb). loping down the court and driving every- time available to compute the alter- They would become millionaires, unlike oneÐthe opposition, the coaches, the fansÐa native valuation date for the family Cosic. That didn't bother him. During an little crazy. He had an 18-foot skyhook and a interview at his middle-class home last year, baseline hook and a set shot beyond what is business. This will help resolve dis- now the 3-point arc. His game ranged from putes with the Internal Revenue Serv- Cosic would not dwell on unfound riches, but instead his eyes twinkled when he told how unorthodox to unpredictable to flat-out ice about the value of the business rewarding it was to coach such players from weird. when the value is closely tied to the differing (and now warring) ethnic back- ``Everyone just fell in love with the guy skills of the decedent. grounds. and the way he played,'' says Witbeck. Family-owned businesses are the job He didn't return to Yugoslavia just to When Witbeck, now BYU's associate ath- letic director, was an assistant basketball creators in this country. In the 1980's build a basketball team. He wanted to build principles of democracy and sought to rec- coach for the Cougars, he recruited Cosic they accounted for an increase of more from the former Yugoslavia. Since Cosic than 20 million private sector jobs. I oncile ethnic groups of Yugoslavia. Such work would later win him the prestigious lived under a Communist regime, contact look forward to working with the farm, Freedom Award. was limited. Several years after first being contacted by ranch, and small business community, He also wanted to build up the LDS Church BYU, when the Yugoslavian national team and Members of the House and Senate, there and at age 23 became the country's pre- was in Naples, Cosic defected. He arrived in to provide relief for out most precious siding elder. He even translated and pub- Salt Lake City in the still-dark hours of the lished The Book of Mormon in Serbo-Cro- resourceÐthe family business entre- early morning, where Cougar officials picked atian and assumed all responsibility for it preneur. him up at the airport. ``It was like an epi- before the Communist hierarchy. sode from `Mission Impossible,' '' says f Cosic's politics and religion were an irri- Witbeck. ``Cloak-and-dagger.'' KRESIMIR COSIC tant to Communist leadersÐbut his popu- Once in Provo, though, Cosic never turned larity and talent on the basketball court back. As anyone who ever saw him lead a Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, a beloved made them withhold action against him. fast break can attest, Cosic wasn't one to friend and adopted son of Utah, His patriotism showed again when Yugo- turn back. ``When you got Kres, you got 110 Kresimir Cosic, passed away May 25. At slavia dissolved into a multisided civil war percent of him,'' says his friend, Bill Nixon. that time I paid a tribute to him on the at the end of communism. At the time, Cosic Bursting to the forefront after a year on floor of the Senate. Since then, others was coaching a professional team in GreeceÐ the freshman team, Cosic caught the fans, and could easily have stayed far from the have also paid tribute in Utah news- the opposition and even the coaches by sur- conflict. prise. He was a reedlike 195-pound, 6-11 cen- paper articles. I ask unanimous con- But he contacted leaders of Croatia (whom ter who loved bringing the ball up the court. sent that these comments be printed in he knew because he was a sports hero) to vol- The guards complained that centers the RECORD. unteer for whatever they needed. Because he shouldn't be leading the break, but to no The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without has lived in the United States and had con- avail. Cosic would smile engagingly and pro- objection, it is so ordered. tacts with key members of Congress, they test that he only brought the ball up because There being no objection, the mate- sent him to Washington as a deputy ambas- he was open. rial ordered to be printed in the sador to tell their story. Cosic's versatility was astounding for his After a year into his assignment, the can- era. In a time of mostly slow, post-up cen- RECORD, as follows: cer was discovered. ters, Cosic ranged across the court. Before [From The Deseret News, June 3, 1995] Even with it, Cosic lookedÐas alwaysÐfor David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon or Sam (By Lee Davidson) a bright spot. The energy-depleting treat- Perkins, there was Cosic. He could make a ments forced him to stay at home. Instead of COSIC WAS A TRUE MAN OF PRINCIPLE wraparound pass, dribble between his legs, complaining, he spoke with a smile about put up a finger roll or nail the perimeter WASHINGTON.ÐHe skipped the chance to be how nice it was to have more time with his shot with surprising adeptness. He was Pete a basketball-star millionaire and never wife and three children. Maravich with six more inches. Fans packed looked back. Instead, he choose to sacrifice He said it also gave him a chance to work the Smith Fieldhouse and later the Marriott for his God, his country, his friends and his on his family history, which he said he had Center to see him cast his spell. family. been too busy for too long to research well. Witbeck's enduring memory is of a tight But that made Kresimir Cosic, 46, who died Even with illness, he seemed to be almost game for the conference championship last week, among the happiest people I've always at the LDS Church's Washington against rival Utah. Cosic was bringing the ever known, even when he suffered from can- Temple. Some church assignments of my ball down the middle on a fast break, when cer. own often took me there, and I always ran Utah guard Mike Newlin came over to check As Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, saidÐgiving into Cosic. I joked that the must live there. Cosic, expecting him to pass it to the wing. maybe the highest honor I've seen a He smiled and said he enjoyed the peace he But Cosic unexpectedly lifted into the air politican offer at the death of anotherÐ``I found thereÐand enjoyed being near a tem- near the free throw line, tucking his knees never saw Kres without a smile.'' ple, which he lacked for most of his years as under his chin like a 737 folding up its land- That's hard to say about other sports stars a member of the LDS Church. ing gear, and laying the ball off the glass. and celebrities who spend millions or act That's how I will remember Cosic. Always Cosic looped out from under the basket, outrageously thinking it will make them finding a reason to be happy no matter what trying hard not to smile. The coaches, who happy. Cosic found the type of joy through problems he faced or opportunities he had to had been worrying about Cosic losing the service that money cannot buy, nor can sick- skipÐeven though they were often not only ball out of bounds, exhaled. The Utah players ness or even death destroy. big, but monumental. gaped in astonishment. ``The things he'd do My own story of Cosic begins where most were unbelievable,'' says Witbeck. others endÐafter his basketball career, [From the Deseret News, May 26, 1995] Cosic ignored overtures from the NBA in mostly because I didn't meet him until he (By Brad Rock) order to return to Yugoslavia, where he arrived in Washington as deputy ambassador spent most of the rest of his life in church for Croatia. That's when I wanted to find out COLORFUL COSIC BROUGHT JOY TO BYU and civic work. When he died, he was serving how an athlete became an ambassador. BASKETBALL as Croatia's deputy ambassador to the U.S. Of course, Cosic was among the greatest of Pete Witbeck can see him even now, dark But it's his career at BYU for which he will all basketball stars at Brigham Young Uni- hair tousled and untamed, laughing in the be most remembered. Of all the stars in the versity and led the former Yugoslavia to doorway of the coaches' office 25 years ago.