[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2827-S2828]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY ON ITS MEN'S 
   BASKETBALL TEAM WINNING ITS SEVENTH NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC 
                        ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONSHIP

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I send a resolution to the desk and ask for 
its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 204) to commend and congratulate the 
     University of Kentucky on its men's basketball team winning 
     its seventh National Collegiate Athletic Association 
     championship.
       Whereas the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's 
     basketball team defeated the University of Utah's team on 
     March 30, 1998, in San Antonio, Texas, to win its seventh 
     National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship; 
     and
       Whereas, the Wildcats overcame the largest halftime deficit 
     in a championship game, earning for themselves the nickname 
     ``The Comeback Cats, and
       Whereas, Coach Tubby Smith, his staff, and his players 
     displayed outstanding dedication, teamwork, unselfishness, 
     and sportsmanship throughout the course of the season in 
     achieving collegiate basketball's highest honor; and
       Whereas Coach Smith and the Wildcats have brought pride and 
     honor to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which is rightly known 
     as the basketball capital of the world: now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate commends and congratulates the 
     University of Kentucky on its outstanding accomplishment.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the president of the University of 
     Kentucky.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I thank the clerk for reading it. I 
apologize for imposing upon him, but I wanted that to be a part of the 
Record. Not many people will read the Record back home. I would like 
for them to see and hear it. On behalf of the fans and the people of 
the Commonwealth of Kentucky, it is a great pleasure for me to come to 
the Senate floor today to brag on a group of young men that refused to 
give up, a team that showed us all the best about teamwork, 
selflessness, and dedication--the 1998 NCAA National Champion 
University of Kentucky Wildcats.
  The University of Kentucky has a storied tradition of outstanding 
basketball teams; the ``Fabulous Five,'' the ``Fiddlin Five,'' ``Rupp's 
Runts,'' and more recently, ``The Unforgettables,'' to name just a few.

[[Page S2828]]

 But today, we have a new team to add to that list: ``The Comeback 
Cats.''
  Faced with a 10-point half-time deficit, the Cats overcame that 
deficit and rallied to beat Utah, a team of outstanding athletes 
playing under a fine coach. And by doing so, they broke the all-time 
record for the largest half-time deficit overcome in the NCAA Title 
game.
  But this was not the first time the Wildcats had to make a rally in 
this tournament. Down to Duke by 17 in the Elite Eight and down by 10 
points to Stanford in the National Semifinal, the Wildcats did what 
we've become accustomed to in Kentucky. They turned up the defense, 
they hit the offensive boards and they hit the ``threes'' when they 
counted.
  And they did it on a team that can best be described as a celestial 
body--a team with no individual stars. As Washington Post sportswriter 
Michael Wilbon noted this morning, ``This is one of the few Kentucky 
basketball teams that is completely without a star player. But Coach 
Tubby Smith convinced the players many games ago they don't need one.''
  This is a team with three seniors as tri-captains who have all 
sacrificed: Cameron Mills, a player who'll be long remembered for his 
clutch three-pointers, came to the team as a walk-on after passing up 
scholarships to play at other schools; Allen Edwards, a three-position 
player fighting on after the loss of his mother; and Jeff Sheppard, a 
red shirted player last year who became this year's Most Valuable 
Player in the Tournament.
  Of course all of this would not have been possible without the 
guidance and steady hand of Coach Tubby Smith, a man filling the shoes 
of a coach who became a legend in Kentucky over a few short years, Rick 
Pitino.
  Today in Kentucky they're talking about a man who led this team to 
the Championship and has shown, as a local paper noted, that ``skill, 
intelligence and a self-effacing gentlemanliness are enough to win 
games--and hearts.'' Tubby Smith has shown us that nice guys do, 
indeed, finish first.
  For all the players, the coaches, the managers--and anyone else 
associated with the team--let me say congratulations on a job well 
done, and please know there are thousands of Kentuckians who are very 
proud of you.
  Mr. President, I might say that of the three times the Tennessee 
women will have been at the White House to be honored, Kentucky will 
have been there two of those, and they had to go into overtime to lose 
the third one. I think we have an outstanding group of people.
  I ask for approval of the resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
  The resolution (S. Res. 204) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  Mr. FORD. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. REID. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, while the Senator from Kentucky is here, I 
appreciate the resolution that was offered and that was just passed in 
the Senate. In my estimation, there have never been two teams that had 
such good sportsmanship. The two coaches were of such high quality. In 
all their victories along the way, they complemented each other, and 
last night, even though one was a victor and one was the vanquished, 
they both talked as if they had won. It was very good performance and 
set a good standard for sportsmanship.

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