[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MORGAN WOOTTEN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, Morgan Wootten has been changing the lives of 
young men in the Washington area for the last half century. Last month, 
Mr. Wootten, the head basketball coach at DeMatha High School in 
Hyattsville, MD, since 1956, announced his retirement.
  Coach Wootten finished his career with 1,274 wins, 44 consecutive 
seasons with 20 or more wins, 33 Catholic league championships, 16 city 
titles, and five national championships. Under Coach Wootten, DeMatha 
finished the season ranked No. 1 in the area, a record 22 times. More 
than a dozen of his players have gone on to play in the NBA, 150 have 
received college basketball scholarships, and more than 20 are 
currently coaching basketball at some level. And two years ago, the 
all-time winningest high school basketball coach in America was 
inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame.
  But numbers do not tell the story of Morgan Wootten, nor the impact 
he has had on the lives of those young men he has coached at DeMatha. 
He is most remembered by his players, and the students in his history 
classes, for the lessons he taught them about life. Coach Wootten 
preached to his players the importance of God, family, school and 
basketball, in that order. His true value is measured in the 
professional and personal success of those he has taught and coached, 
and by the number of former players and students who have remained 
close to him over the years.
  Mr. Speaker, President Theodore Roosevelt said that ``To educate a 
man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.'' 
Morgan Wootten has educated several generations of young men in both 
mind and morals, and I offer him my warmest congratulations on is well-
deserved retirement.

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