[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.