    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [November 17, 2003]
    [Pages 1568-1570]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Honoring NCAA Spring Championship Teams
    November 17, 2003

        Please be seated. Thanks for coming. Let's see, I forgot who said,
    ``This is the people's house, and we're just letting you live here.''
    You're right. Welcome to the people's house. I'm glad to be just living
    here for a while.
        I'm also really glad to honor some of our country's really fine
    individuals to the White House, all of whom worked to make their team
    successful. It is--we call this championship day, where champions come,
    people who put their talents to good use, and people who have got a lot
    of talents to continue to put to use to make sure our country is as
    hopeful and compassionate as possible. So welcome to the White House.
    We're really thrilled you're here.
        We've got some pretty interesting characters with us today.
    [Laughter] Every person has got to have a good lawyer, particularly in
    America. And I got a good one, and that's Judge Al Gonzales, who is the White House legal counsel, who
    graduated from Rice University. Judge, thank you for coming.
        We have got Members from the United States Congress with us today.
    From the great State of Texas, Chris Bell and
    John Culberson. Thank you all for coming,
    Chris and John. I'm glad you're here. I suspect I know why you're here.
    Rush Holt from the State of New Jersey is with us.
    Rush, thank you for coming. Mark Kennedy is
    with us. Mark, good to see you, sir, glad you're back. Cliff Stearns--hi, Cliff, how are you?
        We've got the university leaders with us. Chancellor Nancy
    Cantor from the University of Illinois is with
    us. Chancellor, we're honored you are here. Jim Barker, the president of Clemson University; Malcolm
    Gillis, from Houston, Texas, Rice University.
    Thank you all for coming, and thank you for bringing the people from
    your universities here to the White House. We're glad you're here.
        First, I want to honor an individual. I said this, that we're going
    to honor teams, but we're going to first start off with an individual
    here on Champions Day. The man I'm about to introduce has been winning
    college football games since Harry Truman was in the White House.
    [Laughter] His teams have picked up 409 victories in the course of his
    career, and that's John Gagliardi. The reason
    why his teams play so well is because not only is he a good coach, he's
    first and foremost a very decent person who honors values, who believes
    in the potential of every individual, who leads through example.
        Coach Gagliardi, we're honored that
    you're here. We appreciate so very much Peggy and Jim being with you. Coach
    Gagliardi told me Jim--or Jim told me he's the offensive coordinator. He
    said, ``I kind of like''--I said, ``I kind of like a guy who follows in
    his father's footsteps.'' [Laughter] But it's such an honor to welcome
    this fine human being with us today. Coach

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    Gagliardi, congratulations, and thank you very much for being here, sir.
        Every team here did really well. But only one team was undefeated,
    and that was the Mighty Illini tennis team. They were 32-0. Coach
    Tiley, I don't know if it was the scheduling
    that did it. [Laughter] You had a lot of really good players; I know
    that. I'm so glad you're here. I appreciate the fine tennis players
    being here. I want to congratulate you on your undefeated season. I want
    to congratulate you on being national champs in men's tennis.
        The Lady Gators are with us from Florida. If you've got any
    complaints, Lady Gators, about this day, just go ahead and write the
    Governor. [Laughter] This is the fourth team from
    your distinguished university to make it to the White House. I
    appreciate Coach Thornqvist. I'm honored
    that the Lady Gators are with us today. And I want to congratulate you
    as well for being the national champs, representing your school.
        The Clemson golf team started the year at number one--this will be
    your Clemson men's golf team--and they ended the year at number one.
    That's called a wire-to-wire, start to finish. I appreciate very much
    Larry Penley; he's been the coach. He's been
    there for only two decades. He's taken a while to get it right. No.
    [Laughter] I want to congratulate Coach Penley and the mighty Clemson
    golf team. I know the people down there in South Carolina are really
    proud of you.
        Last year I had the honor of hosting the Princeton women's lacrosse
    team, and so I just kind of said, ``You think you'll be back next
    year?'' They said, yeah, they thought they'd be back next year. I like
    people who do what they say they're going to do. [Laughter] I want to
    congratulate the Princeton women's and Coach Sailer for winning your sport back-to-back. These are great
    athletes and great scholars with us. And I'm real proud that you're
    here. So I asked them once again, ``Are you going to be back next
    year?'' They said, ``How about you?'' No. They said--[laughter]. I
    appreciate--[laughter]--never mind. [Laughter]
        The USC women's golf team is with us. Mikaela Parmlid was the national champ last year, the individual
    championship. The thing I like about her, she was more interested in
    helping her team win. And thanks to Andrea Gaston, the Lady Trojans, they beat a difficult field and are
    national champs from USC. I bet there are some men's football players
    that'd like to be here as well from your university. [Laughter]
        The mighty Virginia Cavalier lacrosse team is here. This is--I
    didn't know much about lacrosse. I kind of saw it in the periphery for a
    while. Then I watched--I happened to be working out upstairs and watched
    the finals. Whew, it's a tough game, and banging each other over the
    heads with sticks, and--[laughter]--but I'm proud of Coach
    Starsia and the Cavaliers for winning this
    important championship, a 9-7 championship game. It was a classic of
    conditioning and toughness and desire. And I'm proud to say that you won
    it.
        We've also got the UCLA softball team here with us, ladies' softball
    team. I can remember when I was the Governor of Texas, I used to work
    out in the weight room. And I can remember the Texas girls telling me,
    they said, ``Don't worry, Governor, we'll be the national champs.'' They
    forgot about Coach Enquist's team. The UCLA
    Bruins are a great ladies' softball team. It's a tough field, and they
    had great pitching--a very competitive team. And I want to congratulate
    you all for being here. I asked if there are any that are going to be on
    the Olympic team. I think three or four hands went up who will be
    representing the United States in Olympic softball. I pity the teams
    they play. [Laughter]
        Finally, the mighty Rice Owls are here with us. I grew up in
    Houston. I can remember going over to the ballpark over there on the
    campus to watch the Rice teams of old play. Coach Graham and the

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    Owls not only represented a fine university well, they represented a
    great baseball State. They--I told Coach Graham, I said, ``It's great to
    be with people who go to a fine school and at the same time beat a
    really tough, tough field in baseball.'' And so I want to congratulate
    the mighty Owls for coming. I know a lot of folks in Houston are really
    proud of your accomplishments. So are a lot of people in Texas.
        So this is championship--we're honored to have the teams with us--
    championship day. The thing--the lesson I love about team sports and
    about champions is that champions work hard. They live a good, clean
    life in order to succeed. But they all serve something greater than
    themself in life. And that's an important example for our country. It's
    important for people to recognize that serving something greater than
    yourself in life makes you a whole person, helps you understand the
    significance of life.
        My call to these champs is to remember that now that you're a
    champion, a lot of people, particularly young kids, are looking at you,
    wondering what it's like to be a champ, wondering what it's like to
    serve the school or the region or the State so very well. It means
    you've got a little extra task at hand, means you got to understand that
    you're an example for somebody and you can actually affect somebody's
    life in a positive way by how you handle the responsibilities of being a
    champion.
        Again, congratulations for working hard, for winning.
    Congratulations for what you have done. Congratulations for what you're
    going to do with your life. May God bless you all, may God bless your
    universities, and may God continue to bless our great country.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Malcolm Gillis, president, and
    Wayne Graham, head baseball coach, Rice University; John Gagliardi, head
    football coach, St. John's University, his wife, Peggy, and their son,
    Jim, offensive coordinator, St. John's University football team; Craig
    Tiley, men's tennis head coach, University of Illinois at Urbana-
    Champaign; Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Roland Thornqvist, women's tennis
    head coach, University of Florida; Larry Penley, men's golf head coach,
    Clemson University; Chris Sailer, women's lacrosse head coach, Princeton
    University; Andrea Gaston, head coach, and Mikaela Parmlid, former
    player, women's golf, University of Southern California; Dom Starsia,
    men's lacrosse head coach, University of Virginia; and Sue Enquist, head
    softball coach, University of California-Los Angeles.