[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2174-H2175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from South Dakota [Mr. Thune] is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. Speaker, today I also want to pay tribute to the many

[[Page H2175]]

teachers around this country. It is National Teacher Appreciation Day. 
My father was a teacher. In fact, I am probably one of the few people 
in this body that knows what it is like to live on a teacher's salary.
  I did not have him for a class; although, my older brother Rich did. 
My brother Rich was a valedictorian of his class. My father's class was 
the only class in which he received a B. So maybe it is better that I 
did not have him as a teacher. But I want to pay tribute to the many 
people who have invested and poured their lives into preparing me for a 
better future, and I have been marred for life by the people who have 
invested and taken the time and energy and have been dedicated and 
committed to preparing and equipping me for the future that was ahead 
of me.
  Today I stand here as a product of their investment. Today I am a 
little bit of Margie Peters, little bit of Mike McKernan, little bit of 
Coach Applebee. There are great lessons that have been learned, and 
there is no greater laboratory in which to learn those lessons, to 
impart knowledge and to instill values than in the classroom.
  I would like to visit with Members just briefly today about one 
person in particular that had a profound impact on my life, and it was 
a basketball and track coach, a red-haired Irishman named Jerry 
Applebee. We do not get C-Span in the town in which I grew up, and so 
we have got his picture here. He probably will not see this. But I want 
to make reference to one game in particular that I recall as a senior 
in high school in which we had an opportunity to win the district 
basketball tournament. It would have been my last opportunity and his 
last opportunity to advance to the State tournament. And I had an 
opportunity toward the end of that game to make a shot that could have 
won that game and sent us on and advanced us in the playoffs. And as 
the play was called and the ball was inbounded and I received the ball 
and took the shot and missed it at the buzzer, with that perished our 
last opportunity at a State tournament and certainly his last 
opportunity as well.
  I remember sitting in the locker room after that game was over and 
feeling dejected and responsible for the loss; and Coach Applebee, as 
was his custom, he came alongside, and the bus was getting ready to 
leave, and said, ``John, the bus is ready to leave, it is time to go. 
And, by the way, track starts next week.''
  He learned and reinforced a lesson that has stuck with me for a very 
long time, and that is, it is not so much about winning or losing as it 
is about learning, and the lessons I learned along the way and the 
teaching and the coaching that I had the opportunity to sit under his 
guidance and leadership were some very important lessons that when you 
win, you win with grace, that when you lose, you lose with dignity, 
that you always play by the rules, and that you always play hard. That 
was his way.
  I never asked whether or not Coach Applebee was a Democrat or a 
Republican. But it was interesting, because when I decided to seek my 
party's nomination for the U.S. Congress, he was one of the first 
people that came forward and helped. We had a little pie auction in my 
hometown of about 700 people, and he was the first one to step up and 
buy pies. In fact, I think he bought the first 4 or 5 pies and bid the 
price up on them because he wanted to make sure that nobody else 
thought that they were going to be able to get off easy.
  That is one of the things I think that is characteristic of a lot of 
teachers around this country, and that is the personal time, the 
investment, the energy, the dedication, the commitment they make to 
building character into the next generation of Americans.
  Today I want to thank those who had an impact on my life, a profound 
impact, as well as many others like them around this country who, day 
in and day out, go about their business and certainly it is not for the 
money because, particularly in our State, it is not a very lucrative 
profession, but they do it because they believe very strongly in 
helping to equip and helping to build a better future for our country.
  So today we pay tribute, and I want to thank the many teachers around 
this country who are about the process of educating and preparing and 
building character into us and equipping us so that we might be the 
kind of people and achieve all the things we possibly can and strive 
for a better future as well for our kids and our grand kids.

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