    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [April 22, 1991]
    [Pages 409-411]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Meeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's
    and Women's Basketball Champions
    April 22, 1991

        Good morning, and please be seated. Let me salute our Vice President
    and our Secretary of Education, the latter fairly well-known in the
    circles in Tennessee from which he has just come. But we're delighted--
    Dan and I are delighted that he's a part of our administration, and
    we're already grateful for that Tennessee touch as we try to do
    something to help kids all across our country. Not instantly, it's not
    going to happen all at once, but we've got a wonderful program. And I
    just was in proselytizing, trying to get all this talent on my right and
    on my left involved in the future in their own way, but that's what it's
    going to take.
        I'm delighted to be here. Of course, I'm glad to see Coach K on my
    left over here, Mike Krzyzewski. He was a graduate of the West Point
    class 1969. And I see one of my trusted right-hand people from the State
    Department here, but I understand that there may be others of your
    classmates, but Bob Kimmitt is a key member of the State Department. I
    welcome the staff of the Blue Devils and the players. I see that Pat has
    an armful here, but I welcome her and her assistants. I offered her
    relief to find somebody to volunteer. I figured maybe Senator Helms or
    former Congressman Mizell would hold the baby, but no, she'd have none
    of that. [Laughter] But, Pat, we welcome you and your assistants.
        We have with us today representatives of the
    Midnight Basketball League. I was over there last week in Baltimore and
    was so impressed by what Mr. Standifer and others are doing to help
    these young people. They are Points of Light for an entire nation.

    [[Page 410]]

    High school championship teams are here from DeMatha High School,
    coached by Morgan Wootten; and from Madison High School, by Pat Deegan.
    I assume it's these pros over here, but welcome all. We're delighted
    you're here.
        And let me just say that just a few feet from here, in this State
    Dining Room, Yogi Berra once said of a state dinner, ``How could you get
    a conversation started in there? Everybody was talking too much.''
    [Laughter]
        Well, today all of America is talking. And they're talking about
    these two teams, your incredible championships. And they're calling it
    Blue Devil destiny or yet another Volunteer victory.
        Consider first how Tennessee won its third title in just 5 years,
    showing what Hemingway termed ``grace under pressure''--that depth and
    quickness, shooting, intelligence, poise, and yes, strength of character
    which embodies a champion.
        In the Good Book, it reads, ``And a little child shall lead them.''
    Well, here the little child was Tyler, Pat's kid, a 6-month-old son. And
    before the title game against Virginia, Pat put him in a t-shirt, I'm
    told, with a Cavaliers mascot crossed out--they X-ed him out--then
    presented her son to the team. The gift helped the Vols upset Virginia
    in overtime. Mission Impossible became Mission Achieved.
        Dena Head spurred that mission, scoring 28 points in the
    championship game. So did teammate Daedra Charles, 19 points and 12
    rebounds; Jodie Adams, whose last-second three-pointers helped get the
    Lady Vols to the title game; Peggy Evans, the sixth woman, great center;
    Lisa Harrison, great passer; Kelli Casteel, the blue collar Lady Vol and
    Most Valuable Player in the year's mideast regional. Together, you and
    your team helped Pat win her third NCAA championship title, more than
    any coach but John Wooden and Adolph Rupp. She's fast becoming the most
    famous legend to come out of Tennessee since Davey Crockett. [Laughter]
        Then there's the pride--I will switch over here--the pride of
    Tennessee's neighboring State. Five times in the last 6 years, including
    the last 4, Duke had made the Final Four. This year, you made a good
    thing even better. First, you stunned unbeaten UNLV in one of the
    greatest games in NCAA tournament history. I happened to catch the end
    of that one, and it was sensational. And next, you beat Kansas in the
    title game with one of the youngest teams in your tenure, coach: two
    seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, and five freshmen.
        Bobby Hurley never had that quandary. His craft is basketball, and
    he is a virtuoso on the court, and so is Christian Laettner--and the
    Final Four's Most Valuable Player. Grant Hill, Thomas Hill added to the
    Blue Devils' hit parade. And seniors Greg Koubek and Clay Buckley have
    set a record that can never be broken. They made it--and this one can
    never be broken--they made it to four Final Fours. Together the Blue
    Devils slam-dunked opponents and seized Duke's first-ever championship.
        Coach K, like Pat, you showed that nice guys can finish first. And
    moreover, your team, like Pat's, proved the scholar athlete is not a
    contradiction in terms.
        Let me repeat what you said about your kids, about your players:
    Everything in their lives doesn't hinge on a basket or a rebound, so
    they can rationalize when there's a roadblock, when maybe they should
    stay on the same avenue a little longer.
        At Duke and Tennessee, that avenue leads to graduation. Both schools
    have high academic standards. Each recruits aggressively but honestly
    and openly. And both stay within the rules. Over the last decade, more
    than 90 percent of Duke and Tennessee players got their diplomas--over
    90 percent of the players got their diplomas. Both teams have higher
    graduation rates than the student bodies at their institutions. Like
    many of your fellow alumni, you players will make an even greater
    difference after graduation than before.
        I ought to tell the rest of our audience that I--a little more about
    this. I met with these players and asked them to continue their
    volunteers efforts toward educational excellence. And I want to help
    them energize our educational system at all levels. I'm proud to report
    that there seem to be enthusiastic agreement--it's not obligation but
    it's a privilege to be able to help others.

    [[Page 411]]

        In a real sense, the student athletes from Duke and Tennessee have
    become a metaphor for our national education strategy, a long-term
    movement that touches every school and student in America. You set high
    goals and you reach them. You excelled in the classroom. You
    demonstrated the kind of commitment and determination that we hope all
    students will adopt in the future. You showed why education is our most
    enduring legacy, vital to everything we are and can become.
        For that I salute you. I thank you for what you've done and are
    doing today. And I just can't tell you what a pleasure it is to have
    both of these outstanding champion teams to the White House. Thank you
    all very, very much.

                        Note: The President spoke at 10:25 a.m. in the Rose
                            Garden at the White House. In his remarks, he
                            referred to Secretary of Education Lamar
                            Alexander; Mike Krzyzewski, men's basketball
                            coach at Duke University; Robert Michael
                            Kimmitt, Under Secretary of State for Political
                            Affairs; Pat Summitt, women's basketball coach
                            at the University of Tennessee, and her son,
                            Tyler; Senator Jesse Helms; former
                            Representative Wilmer D. Mizell, Sr., Executive
                            Director of the President's Council on Physical
                            Fitness and Sports; Van Standifer, founder of
                            the Midnight Basketball League; and basketball
                            coaches Morgan Wooten of DeMatha High School and
                            Pat Deegan of Madison High School.