[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[April 22, 1992]
[Pages 626-627]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Congratulating the 1992 Super Bowl Champion Washington Redskins

April 22, 1992
    Please be seated, and welcome to the Rose Garden. May I first 
salute, of course, Joe Gibbs and Charlie Casserly, and the players, the 
coaches, the official family, and the friends of the Redskins. Welcome 
to the White House at last. We're delighted to have you here.
    And you can imagine how much I've looked forward to the event. Today 
we honor the flagship franchise of the NFL since 1937, a team which this 
year earned the best mark in club history, 17 and 2. We're proud to 
salute the 1992 Super Bowl champions.
    I think first of all of Mark Rypien: nearly 3,600 passing yards in 
the regular season, two touchdowns, the MVP award in the Super Bowl. 
Someone mentioned to me that Mark was born in Canada. It looks like the 
U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement is paying off already, at least from 
our standpoint. [Laughter]
    And often Mark threw to the beloved number 81. And when the NFL 
decided last month to scrap instant replay, I thought I heard a big 
cheer go up. Barbara said, ``What was that?'' I said, ``I'm not sure. 
Sounds like Art Monk.'' An instant replay cost him one touchdown in the 
Super Bowl, but not 60 others and a glorious career. And all Washington 
is proud of a future Hall-of-Famer.
    Now, this brings me to the other members of the Super Bowl 
champions. Perhaps the NFL's best offensive line, the ``Hogs,'' allowing 
a club record low, nine sacks. Next, with Art, members of the ``Posse,'' 
wide receivers Ricky Sanders and Gary Clark. We salute, too, running 
backs like Gerald Riggs and Earnest Byner; Chip Lohmiller--Cole Porter 
must have seen the future when he wrote, ``I get a kick out of you.'' 
[Laughter] And plus, of course, another future Hall-of-Famer, Joe Gibbs, 
now with three Super Bowl victories, second only to Chuck Noll. Let's 
hear it for the coach. [Applause]
    And yet, it's the ``National Defense'' that would make even the 
Pentagon proud. That great defense that still has Jim Kelly ducking 
tacklers in his sleep--Jim, nothing personal, the Skins k.o.'d opponents 
all year. Think of linemen like Fred Stokes and Jumpy Geathers, Tim 
Johnson; or linebackers Andre Collins and Wilbur Marshall, 11 tackles 
against Buffalo; or the secondary, featuring A.J. Johnson and all-pro 
speed demon Darrell Green. And each showed why coach Richie Pettibon 
said, ``It's a case of the whole being even better than the parts.''
    Go to Bethesda or Anacostia, travel to Alexandria or Falls Church, 
and they'll talk about this team molded by Joe and Charlie. They'll 
talk, too, about things other than the won-and-lost record, impressive 
though that is. Things like Mark's support for the Cystic Fibrosis 
Foundation, Art Monk's and Earnest Byner's work on behalf of the Food 
for Families Program at Thanksgiving, Darrell Green's youth foundation, 
or the Joe Gibbs Youth for Tomorrow Home.
    These things explain a lot. They explain why the Skins have become a 
barometer of whether Monday is good or bad for Washingtonians. And 
they're also an economic barometer. And I was glad, for example, to 
learn that whenever the Redskins have won the Super Bowl, the U.S. 
economy has improved that year. [Laughter] Other teams get covered in 
the sports section; this crowd gets covered in the ``Wall Street Week.'' 
Whether it's Wall Street or Main Street, though, America loves the 
Redskins.
    And so, I just want to welcome you all here. We're proud to have you 
here, your

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friends, your wives, dates, and whoever else. And so now let's get on to 
what's important, a little chow. But let me tell you that we've got a 
triathlon event out here. We have the horseshoe pit rigged up, and if I 
might spell out the ground rules here: Women and men welcome, just the 
players and their dates and friends, however, because we've got a time 
thing. And he who gets or she who gets the most ringers out of 10 tosses 
wins a fantastic prize. On the putting green, he or she who gets the 
lowest nine-hole score wins yet another fantastic prize. And then we 
move to the third event--you can do this in any order you want, but try 
to do it before dinner--and the last one is the basketball, 10 shots 
from the foul line, another fantastic prize. So you don't have to go, 
and this isn't mandatory, but I want to stand around and laugh. 
[Laughter]
    Thank you very much.

                    Note: The President spoke at 6:02 p.m. in the Rose 
                        Garden at the White House. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to Chuck Noll, former head coach of the 
                        Pittsburgh Steelers.