[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5165]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOLLECTIONS OF PRESIDENT RICHARD W. LARIVIERE, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, recently, the president of the University 
of Oregon, Richard Lariviere, came to meet with me in my office. The 
University of Oregon is my law school alma mater, and I was 
commiserating with President Lariviere about the Ducks' narrow loss in 
the BCS national championship football game. President Lariviere told 
me about a wonderful speech that Coach Chip Kelly gave to his players 
after the game. I asked President Lariviere to share the story with me 
in writing; and with his permission and that of Coach Kelly, I would 
like now to share that story with my colleagues:

       Recollections of President Lariviere:
       On January 10, 2011 when the final whistle ended the BCS 
     national championship football championship game, the 
     University of Oregon was behind by three points--three points 
     scored by our friends from Auburn in the final two seconds of 
     the game.
       The UO players made their way to the locker room, 
     disappointed needless-to-say. Coach Chip Kelly talked to his 
     players, and his remarks were just what any university 
     president would want to hear from a head coach, made more 
     remarkable and emotional because of the magnitude and 
     unprecedented nature of the moment.
       With the team gathered around him, Coach Kelly told these 
     student athletes that they had played a great game, that he 
     was proud of them, and that he could not have asked for more. 
     Then he said this:
       ``In ten minutes the media will come in here and they're 
     going to ask you how you feel. They're going to tell you that 
     this is a defining moment in your lives. I want you to know 
     that this is not a defining moment in your lives. You are 
     young men who play football, but football does not define 
     you. A defining moment will be when you graduate, when you 
     marry, when you have children. Those are the moments that 
     define your lives.''
       Then Coach Kelly turned to each of the seniors and reminded 
     them of the promise they made to him that they would 
     graduate.
       In that locker room with a team that accomplished what no 
     other Oregon football team had ever done, Coach Chip Kelly 
     represented the very best values that have come to be 
     associated with the University of Oregon: bold and audacious, 
     hard working and high achieving, and a focus on what really 
     matters.
       March 2011

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