    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 14, 1999]
    [Pages 1795-1797]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Champions
    October 14, 1999

        The President. Thank you very much. Well, ladies and gentlemen,
    welcome to the White House. I want to say a special word of welcome to
    Purdue Coach Carolyn Peck and UConn Coach Jim
    Calhoun and their wonderful teams; and we're
    honored to be joined by two Members of Congress from Connecticut, John
    Larson and Nancy Johnson.
        Usually, you know, the Members of Congress, they stand in front of
    the team, and I shake hands with them, and then I go shake hands with
    the team. And I started shaking hands with the UConn team, and Nancy
    Johnson was the fourth person in the line,
    and I wondered what position she could possibly have played. [Laughter]
        Well, we're delighted that they're both here, and the two
    Connecticut Senators, Joe Lieberman and
    Chris Dodd were also here. They had to
    go vote, and they're going to try to get back before we finish. But we
    thank them for coming.
        It's a great honor for me today to welcome the Purdue Lady
    Boilermakers and the UConn Huskies, two talented basketball teams who
    remained focused enough to win the most coveted prize in college
    basketball. It's a kind of a joke around the White House that I am a
    fanatic basketball fan, that I frequently misbehave during the NCAA
    tournament--[laughter]--especially if the Arkansas Razorbacks aren't
    playing well that year.
        But I studied these teams very closely. I'd like to--I think that I
    would like to begin by making two acknowledgements that are important to
    the human element of basketball. First of all, the Lady Boilermakers
    lost one of their teammates, Tiffany Young,
    last August in a car accident, and her parents are here. And I'd
    like to acknowledge their presence and thank them for coming. Would
    you--well, they're here somewhere. There they are.
        And in this week, I can't help noting that on Monday we lost one of
    the greatest basketball players of all time, Wilt
    Chamberlain, whose dedication,
    determination, and performance inspired countless Americans, most of
    whom never scored 100 points in a single game.
        Wilt Chamberlain once said, in his rather wry and funny way, ``They
    say nobody is perfect. Then, they tell you practice makes perfect. I
    wish they'd make up their mind.'' [Laughter] One thing is clear. With
    practice and talent, UConn and Purdue got pretty close to perfect. They
    both beat two very talented Duke Blue Devil teams.
        This was a season of firsts. First time a men's team from New
    England had won the NCAA tournament since Harry Truman lived in the
    White House; the first time the Purdue women or the UConn men ever won a
    national championship.
        Let me begin by saluting the Lady Boilermakers. All America was awed
    by your performance. I understand it was fueled by power naps and peanut
    butter. [Laughter] If that's true, I think I'll stay with them both.
    [Laughter]
        They had a dazzling 34-1 season record. I told the coach when we were starting this that I happened to see one
    night, on television, their early-season victory against Tennessee.
    Because, you know, Tennessee's coming here has become a kind of regular
    event--[laughter]--Coach Summitt and her
    husband and her wonderful son have become friends of ours. And Al Gore was in a slump the next day. [Laughter] And he said,
    ``Well, they must have had an off night.'' And I said, ``Al, I watched
    the game. They didn't have an off night.'' [Laughter] ``That Purdue

    [[Page 1796]]

    team is great. It's going to be hard for anybody to beat them.'' And it
    turned out to be right.
        I want to mention the extraordinary contributions of the co-captains
    of the team. MVP Ukari Figgs turned around the
    final game with 18 points. All-American Stephanie White-McCarty amassed the second-highest number of
    points in the history of Purdue.
        Basketball is a team effort. It depends upon everyone working
    together and relies heavily on good leadership. The Boilermakers had a
    lot of both. As the first African-American woman ever to win the NCAA
    championship as a coach, Carolyn Peck has
    demonstrated extraordinary leadership, carrying Purdue to two Big 10
    tournament championships in only two seasons. And I'm glad she's back
    here with her team today. She's just finished her first season as a pro
    coach, where she missed the playoffs, I think she said, by one game. And
    next year is your second season; you've got to deliver. And we wish you
    well. [Laughter] So I'd like to call on Carolyn Peck and give her the
    microphone now. Thank you.

    [At this point, Coach Peck made brief remarks.]

        The President. I also want to acknowledge, before I leave the State
    of Indiana, the presence here of a man who has been my friend for 20
    years, the former Senator from Indiana and the father of the current
    Senator from Indiana, Mr. Birch Bayh. Thank you,
    Senator. Thank you. I'm glad to see you. Thank you.
        Now, the Huskies. I watched them all year, too. They won 34 games,
    and they were supposed to be a big underdog in the championship. They
    had a team that was determined not to be defeated. Richard
    Hamilton's outside touch and the tough
    defensive play of Ricky Moore and Khalid El-
    Amin gave them a 77-74 down-to-the-wire
    thriller that will never be forgotten by people who love basketball.
        I also want to say that I'm glad Richard is coming to Washington to help the Wizards. We need
    it. [Laughter] Jim Calhoun's achievements as the
    Huskies' coach are tremendous. He's the only coach in NCAA history to
    win 250 games at two different Division I programs. He's the winningest
    coach in UConn history, with the third most wins in all of college
    basketball in the last six seasons.
        When I called Jim to congratulate him on the
    victory, we had a wonderful talk about a lot of things, and I'll always
    remember our conversation. But I told him, and I thought that the Duke
    coach, Mike Krzyzewski, gave him and these
    fine young men the ultimate compliment; you can only imagine how
    disappointed he was. He has all those great players; they were supposed
    to win everything easily. It was a fabulous game.
        The truth is, UConn was better than they thought they were. And it
    was--at a moment of enormous disappointment, he got before the national
    television cameras, and he said, ``We did not lose this game. We were
    defeated by a better team.'' And that says a lot about this coach and
    these players.
        So, Coach, the microphone is yours.

    [Coach Calhoun made brief remarks, and the team
    captains presented a jersey and ring to the President.]

        The President. Look at this. I think it's a little big for me, don't
    you? [Laughter] Thank you. I really love this, thank you.
        Now, when does practice start? [Laughter]
        Coach Calhoun. I'll see you Saturday morning
    at 11.
        The President. Thank you very much.
        Coach Peck. Can we make a presentation?
        The President. Sure. Give them another hand, guys. [Applause]

    [Coach Peck and the team's senior captains
    presented a jersey to the President.]

        The President. I can wear this. It's the right size, right? It's the
    right size. I love it.

    [A Purdue senior captain thanked the President and congratulated the
    University of Connecticut Huskies.]

        The President. You know, in a year and a half when I'm not President
    anymore, people will, all of a sudden, start treating me as an elder
    statesman or something, and they will all want my advice on various
    things. One of the things people ask me all the time is, isn't it hard
    to keep your feet on the ground and the sense of basic humility when,
    you know, the Secret Service are with you, you fly around on Air Force
    One, every need is just at your fingertips? And I think I will have two
    pieces of advice: One is, have regular press conferences; that'll cut
    you down to size. [Laughter] And the other is, always meet with the
    champions of the men and women's NCAA basketball tournament. They will
    make you feel very small.

    [[Page 1797]]

        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:08 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Tiffany Young's parents, Gloria
    and Billy Ray Young; and Pat Summitt, coach, University of Tennessee
    Lady Volunteers, her husband, R.B. Summitt, and son, Tyler.