[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
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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.
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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.