[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 52 (Thursday, April 15, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3756-S3758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRATULATING THE 1999 UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and my distinguished 
colleague from Connecticut, Senator Lieberman, I send to the desk S. 
Res. 77 and ask for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 77) commending and congratulating the 
     University of Connecticut Huskies for winning the 1999 NCAA 
     Men's Basketball Championship.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, it is somewhat appropriate, I say to my 
friend and colleague from Connecticut, that the Presiding Officer is 
from Ohio. But for Ohio, we would not have made it to the Final Four, 
the final game.
  This is a moment of great joy for my colleague and I and for the 
people of Connecticut. We express our condolences to the delegation 
from North Carolina, the home of Duke University. It is a fine 
university with a fine basketball team that led the Nation ranked 
number one for a good part of the season. But, unfortunately, on that 
night of March 29 in St. Petersburg, FL, the Blue Devils met the Husky 
team from Connecticut in what many have described as one of the best 
national championship finals in collegiate basketball history. 
Ultimately,

[[Page S3757]]

our team from the University of Connecticut prevailed. To say that 
there is a great sense of pride in Connecticut and enthusiasm and joy 
over this victory is to understate the case by a considerable margin. 
We are a State that, over many years, has had to export our allegiances 
in athletics. We have had a hockey team and a women's professional 
basketball team, both of which have left our State. There is a good 
possibility we will be the home of the New England Patriots in the not-
too-distant future. In the meantime, it has been our men and women's 
basketball teams at UCONN that have captured the attention of everybody 
in our State, and I might say, as well, beyond our State's borders. I 
think a good part of the Nation was rooting for this 9\1/2\ point 
underdog on March 29 as they prevailed in this great victory.
  I want to mention a couple of people if I can. First of all is Jim 
Calhoun, the Head Coach of the UCONN men's basketball team. He has been 
with the team for 13 years and has had a wonderful, wonderful record, 
including capturing the 1988 NIT title and appearing in six ``Sweet 
16's,'' and three ``Elite 8" rounds. And he has now led the team to 
victory in the national championship. He is not only a outstanding 
coach, but also a wonderful human being with great dedication to his 
team, his players, the university, and our State. As well, his coaching 
staff is a fine group of people who have also dedicated so much energy 
and time to making this team the success it has been.
  I would also like to mention some of our UCONN players and commend a 
couple of the fine athletes who made such significant contributions in 
the championship game.
  Our sophomore guard is Khalid El-Amin. We thank the State of 
Minnesota because he was a native and decided to make the University of 
Connecticut his home for basketball purposes. He has been a sparkplug 
for our team and has done a tremendous job. As many will recall, he 
made two free throws in that final game with only 5.2 seconds left, 
which absolutely iced the victory for UCONN.
  Richard Hamilton has become one of the great players in collegiate 
history. He was the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA tournament, the 
Most Valuable Player in the Big East tournament this year, and is truly 
one of the great, great players not only at the University of 
Connecticut, but also throughout the Nation.
  Other players like Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman, and Jake Voskuhl did a 
great job as well, all contributing when it counted most. Moore and 
Freeman, I think, deserve special recognition for proving that defense 
is valuable. It is not just who can score the most points, but who can 
be a great defensive player. Both of them did a terrific job in proving 
the value of that element of this wonderful, unique game now played 
worldwide. Basketball is a game that began in Springfield, MA, 
something that we in America take pride in as it is a sport that is 
home-grown.
  Lastly, Mr. President, the fans, the student body, the 
administration, Phillip Austin, President of the university, the Board 
of Trustees, and the faithful alumni were all in that arena to watch 
the Ohio State game, and then the final game on Monday. They were both 
great games. I know the former Governor of that State, the occupant of 
the Chair, takes great pride in Ohio State. The coach of your team was 
an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. He was in Florida 
and rooting for Connecticut, I can tell you, during that final game. I 
am sure he would have liked to have been coaching that game instead, 
but despite not being there himself, and given his former relationship 
with the University of Connecticut, it is understandable how he felt a 
special affection for the UCONN team.
  Again, Mr. President, as I began, let me end. This was a great moment 
for our State. The people are very proud of the accomplishments of this 
team and our university. Senator Lieberman and I wanted to take a 
moment out of the Senate business to recognize the accomplishments of 
these fine young men of the University of Connecticut and thank the 
people of our State who have so faithfully supported them throughout 
these many years.
  Mr. President, at this time I would like to recognize all the coaches 
and players of the 1999 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team: Head 
Coach Jim Calhoun, Associate Head Coach Dave Leitao, Assistant Coach 
Karl Hobbs, Assistant Coach Tom Moore, Beau Archibald, Justin Brown, 
Khalid El-Amin, Kevin Freeman, Richard Hamilton, E.J. Harrison, 
Rashamel Jones, Antric Klaiber, Ricky Moore, Albert Mouring, Edmund 
Saunders, Souleymane Wane, and Jake Voskuhl.
  With that, I yield to my colleague, an equally fervent champion and 
fan of the UCONN team.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Hear, hear, Mr. President. I thank my friend and 
colleague from Connecticut. I am proud to join with him in introducing 
this resolution commemorating what was truly one of the most thrilling 
and uplifting moments in the modern history of our State--and I do not 
say that lightly--the national championship won by the University of 
Connecticut men's basketball team.
  I think to understand what this achievement means to our relatively 
small State, my colleagues have to understand what this UCONN team has 
meant for the last decade to the people of Connecticut. I don't think 
there are many teams in the country that have a more rabid following 
than our Huskies. From their home base in Storrs, clear across the 
State to Stamford, from Stonington in the east to Salisbury in the 
northwest, every basketball season, the people of Connecticut are 
gripped with a delirium known affectionately as ``Huskymania,'' which 
makes every day of the season seem like March Madness in Connecticut. 
The interest is so intense that the Huskies, hailing from the third 
smallest State in America, travel with the largest contingent of 
reporters in all of college basketball, referred to simply as ``the 
horde.''
  Now, Mr. President, over the last decade, Huskymania has been 
heightened by the enormous success of our great coach, Jim Calhoun and 
athletic director, Lew Perkins. UCONN has dominated the storied Big 
East Conference, winning six regular season championships, 
distinguishing itself in NCAA tournament play, advancing to the Elite 
Eight three different times. The one thing missing was a trip to the 
fabled Final Four and a national championship, and that dream was 
realized on March 29 with the victory over the Duke Blue Devils in what 
has to have been, not just for Connecticut fans, but for basketball 
fans all over the country, one of the great games in recent history of 
college basketball.
  The Huskies' thrilling victory touched off a joyous celebration in 
our State, which is normally known as ``the land of steady habits,'' an 
exhilaration which I experienced literally firsthand that night. I 
could not go to Florida to see the game, but I did the next best 
thing--I went to Coach's Bar and Grill in Hartford, CT, which is 
partially owned by Coach Calhoun. Let me just say to my colleagues on 
the floor, I was, by far, the senior citizen in the bar that night. It 
seemed like about half of the State's under-30 population was there. 
The fervor was intense and the joy extreme when the game was over.
  Let me say that we are proud of this victory, but we are also really 
proud of the values that are part of it--the teamwork, the sacrifice, 
the sportsmanship, the determination and the dignity this team and its 
coach showed in scrapping and hustling their way to the pinnacle of 
college basketball. The character of this UCONN team is an apt 
reflection of their great coach, Jim Calhoun, who is a great coach 
because he is a great man, a man of indomitable spirit, tremendous 
values, and a great pursuit of excellence. I am thrilled that Coach 
Calhoun is finally getting his due as one of the Nation's great 
coaches.
  For now, I am grateful for the wonderful gift that Jim and his 
players have given the people of Connecticut, for the way they brought 
such a diverse State together and reaffirmed our sense of community, 
for living up to our highest ideals of sport and--if you will allow me 
a pun in the name of the Huskies--for showing that every dog does 
indeed have their day.

  Now, Mr. President, if I may close somewhat unusually, at Coach's Bar 
and Grill on the night of the game, one of the young men there, at a 
critical moment in the first half, turned to me and asked me if I would 
lead the UCONN cheer, and I did that. I was

[[Page S3758]]

criticized the first time because they said my N's were not too good. 
You will see what I mean in a moment. As the game went on, I was called 
on repeatedly to lead this cheer, and of course, we in Coach's Bar and 
Grill feel that made the margin of difference in the victory that 
occurred in Florida that night.
  If you will allow me, Mr. President, here is the cheer: U-C-O-N-N, 
UCONN, UCONN, UCONN.
  Thank you. I urge adoption of the resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
  The resolution (S. Res. 77) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 77), with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 77

       Whereas the University of Connecticut men's basketball team 
     capped a remarkable season by defeating the top-ranked Duke 
     Blue Devils 77-74, on March 29, 1999, in St. Petersburg, 
     Florida, to win its 1st national championship in its 1st 
     ``Final Four'' appearance;
       Whereas the Huskies finished with a regular season record 
     of 34-2, the best in the program's proud 96 years of 
     competition;
       Whereas the Huskies firmly established themselves as the 
     dominant team of the decade in the storied Big East 
     Conference, winning their 6th regular season title and their 
     4th tournament championship of the 1990s;
       Whereas UConn's Richard ``Rip'' Hamilton distinguished 
     himself in the championship game and throughout the season as 
     one of the premier players in all of college basketball, 
     winning his 2d Big East Player of the Year award, earning 1st 
     team All-America honors, and closing out a spectacular 
     offensive performance in the NCAA tournament by being named 
     the most valuable player of the Final Four.
       Whereas UConn's senior co-captain Ricky Moore distinguished 
     himself as one of the Nation's top defensive players, 
     personifying the grit, determination, and fierce will to win 
     that carried the Huskies throughout the year;
       Whereas UConn coach Jim Calhoun instilled in his players an 
     unceasing ethic of dedication, sacrifice, and teamwork in the 
     pursuit of excellence, and instilled in the rest of us a 
     renewed appreciation of what it means to win with dignity, 
     integrity, and true sportsmanship;
       Whereas the Huskies' thrilling victory in the NCAA 
     championship game enraptured their loyal and loving fans from 
     Storrs to Stamford, taking ``Huskymania'' to new heights and 
     filling the State with an overwhelming sense of pride, honor, 
     and community;
       Whereas the UConn basketball team's national championship 
     spotlighted one of the Nation's premier State universities, 
     that is committed to academic as well as athletic excellence: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate commends and congratulates the 
     Huskies of the University of Connecticut for winning the 1999 
     NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the president of the University of 
     Connecticut.

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