[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 45 (Thursday, March 20, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4162-S4163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TAYLOR COPPENRATH, PRIDE OF WEST BARNET, VERMONT

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today I salute a key member of the 
first University of Vermont men's basketball team ever to participate 
in the NCAA Tournament. Taylor Coppenrath is the Vermont version of 
Larry Bird, a smalltown boy who found huge success on the basketball 
court.
  Taylor's basketball excellence has transformed his hometown, tiny 
West Barnet, VT, into perhaps, on a per capita basis, our State's most 
basketball-crazy town, and with good reason. During his career at St. 
Johnsbury Academy, Taylor did not make the varsity squad until his 
junior year, but when he finally arrived, his presence was felt. Taylor 
was named Vermont's 2000 Player of the Year by USA Today and Gatorade, 
and Mr. Basketball by the Burlington Free Press.
  When Taylor joined Coach Tom Brennan's University of Vermont 
Catamounts, he had an immediate impact, and was named the 2002 America 
East Rookie of the Year, and earned All-America East, second team 
honors. During this season, he was named the Kevin Roberson America 
East Player of the Year, an honor appropriately named for one of UVM's 
all time greatest players. Taylor has attracted national attention, 
including a mention on ESPN.com's The Radar Screen. An opposing coach, 
Tim Welsh of Providence College said of Taylor, ``I'm glad we only have 
to play him once this year.''
  Taylor Coppenrath's story is perhaps best told by award-winning 
writer Sam Hemingway of the Burlington Free Press in his column of 
Wednesday, March 19. I ask that the column ``Basketball Star Makes West 
Barnet Proud'' be printed into the Record.
  The article follows:

            Basketball star Coppenrath makes W. Barnet proud

                    [From the Burlington Free Press]

                           (By Sam Hemingway)

       Shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, the quiet hamlet of West 
     Barnet will grow even quieter.
       Sharon Roy will put her small, seldom-used black-and-white 
     television on the counter at the West Barnet General Store 
     and see whether she can capture WCAX-TV Channel 3 on the 
     screen.
       Meg Clayton has a better plan. Her good friends, the 
     Coppenraths, have a satellite dish, and because they''ll be 
     away in Utah, she intends to stop by and ``check on their 
     cat'' for a couple of hours.
       Over at the Barnet School, the afternoon in-service session 
     for teachers should end in time for the staff to check out 
     the cable television hook-up installed at the school this 
     week.
       The focus of all this television attention: hometown hero 
     Taylor Coppenrath. The 6-foot, 8-inch forward will be on 
     network television, leading the University of Vermont men's 
     basketball team in its first-ever NCAA appearance, against 
     the University of Arizona.

[[Page S4163]]

       The funny thing is, no one in these parts really saw this 
     day coming five years ago. The funnier thing is that, now 
     that it's happening, no one's that surprised about it.
       ``He's such a sweetie,'' said Karen Stewart, the principal 
     of Barnet School. ``He was always very mellow, very easy 
     going.''
       He still is. Neighbor Liddy Roberts recalled how, last 
     year, Coppenrath and her son, Jimmy, were home on spring 
     break and spent a whole day making an igloo for a youngster 
     in town albeit one big enough for Coppenrath to stand up 
     inside.
       ``And, of course, he and Jimmy had to go out and cook up 
     some hot dogs inside the igloo afterward,'' she said.
       Under that unassuming exterior lurks the heart of a lion, 
     however.
       As a kid, Coppenrath played so hard at recess, some 
     teachers said, the school created the Taylor Coppenrath Rule: 
     If you come in from recess soaked in sweat like he did, make 
     sure you have a set of dry clothes to put on afterward.
       Name a game, and Coppenrath was ready to play it. Games 
     filled the idle hours for kids in the village, none more so 
     than basketball. The sound of a bouncing basketball often 
     echoed through town from dawn to dusk.
       Sometimes the games involved Coppenrath and his two best 
     friends, Clayton's son Chris and Roberts' son Jimmy. Other 
     times, it drew in entire families, passers-by, anyone who 
     wanted to play.
       ``We even had family tournaments,'' said George Coppenrath, 
     Taylor's father. ``You had mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, 
     all bumping and shoving each other out there. It was fun.''
       Basketball became such a fixture in West Barnet that six 
     years ago a paved, full-sized basketball court with two 
     backboards and hoops was built smack dab in the middle of the 
     village.
       Still, the chances of a small-town kid from Vermont making 
     a big splash in Division 1 college basketball are as remote 
     as West Barnet itself, tucked into the hills 15 miles 
     southwest of St. Johnsbury.
       Coppenrath, who kept growing taller throughout high school, 
     was a late-blooming star. He didn't make the varsity at St. 
     Johnsbury Academy until his junior year, a year after his two 
     West Barnet buddies had made the team.
       Only as a senior did he finally receive the recognition he 
     deserved: Vermont's Gatorade Player of the Year, The 
     Burlington Free Press' Mr. Basketball and a full scholarship 
     from UVM. This winter he led the Catamounts in scoring and 
     was named the player of the year in the America East 
     basketball conference.
       How crazy is this town for basketball now? George 
     Coppenrath has taken to making video tapes of UVM games and 
     leaving them at the two stores in town for people to borrow 
     and watch.
       Tuesday, all of the West Barnet General Store's copies were 
     out on loan.

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