[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 21 (Monday, May 27, 2002)]
[Pages 862-863]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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Remarks Honoring NCAA Champion Teams
May 21, 2002
The President. Welcome. Please be seated. It's a beautiful day to
welcome a bunch of champs to the White House. I want to welcome you all;
I want to welcome the teams. Thanks for coming.
Thank you, Senators, for being here. I see Senator Dodd, Dayton. I--
Senator Lieberman's on his way; I know that for a fact. I want to thank
my friend Johnny Rowland, the Governor of Connecticut, here. He told me,
he said, ``The Connecticut women's basketball team is pretty good this
year.'' I said, ``Oh, yeah?'' He said, ``No, they're real good.'' And I
said, ``Well, how good?'' He said, ``They're going to go undefeated.'' I
said, ``Sure, Governor.'' Thanks for making me look bad, Johnny.
[Laughter]
Senator Wellstone, thanks for coming as well, honored you're here.
I want to thank the representatives from the universities. My good
friend Mark Yudof is here from the University of Minnesota. I want to
thank Don Lucia as well, the head coach of the men's hockey team. I want
to congratulate the Minnesota team; you won it in dramatic fashion. And
you had to let down your--change your immigration laws to allow somebody
from North Dakota to come in to score. [Laughter] But it was a great
victory.
I want to thank Kathryn Martin and Shannon Miller from the
University of Minnesota-Duluth women's hockey team for coming back
again. It is a repeat performance by a great group of athletes. I want
to congratulate you all for winning it two years in a row.
I want to thank and welcome Geno Aurinuma--is that right?
Mr. Auriemma. Auriemma.
The President. Auriemma. Okay, fine. [Laughter] I've never been too
good in English. [Laughter] But he's a heck of a coach, however he says
his name. [Laughter]
I want to congratulate the UConn women's basketball team for an
unbelievable season. It--what great athletes, and they were really fun
to watch.
And then, much to the delight of thousands of people around here,
and many who work upstairs in the White House, the mighty Terps of
Maryland are the NCAA champions. I want to congratulate Dan Mote, the
president, and Gary Williams, the coach. You guys need to know that
there was a lot of people that were stepping a little lighter in my
family, as well as who work in this compound, when you won. It was a
great feat in an unbelievably tough field. And so congratulations to you
all.
You've now got a--you showed some things that I think are important
for our country, particularly at this time, that if you serve something
greater than yourself, called a team, you can achieve great things. If
you recognize that life is more than just an individual record, that if
you recognize there are--something bigger than an individual
accomplishment, you can win. You can win in a broader sense. And to me,
that's what these championships mean.
It's kind of what our country has got to do as well. If we serve
something greater than materialism or self-absorption, we can do some
great things as a country. Starting with loving our neighbor like we'd
like to be loved ourselves, making sure the country is as hopeful and
promising as it can possibly be.
As well as the result of being champs--I mean big-time champs--
you've now got a lot of people looking at you, a lot of kids wondering,
how does a champ behave? What does a champ do when they win the crown?
It's a great opportunity to set an example for other people, to help
people understand they're responsible for the decisions they make in
life. You have that chance right now as a champ.
You've been champs on the field and on the courts and on the rinks.
Now you can
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be champs off, and do your country a great service.
It's my honor to welcome you all here. I love championship day at
the White House. I love to be around success. I hope you cherish these
memories in winning these great championships for a long time coming and
use them as an opportunity to work to make your Nation the best it can
possibly be.
May God bless your talents, and may God bless America.
Note: The President spoke at 2 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
House. In his remarks, he referred to Mark Yudof, president, and Don
Lucia, head men's ice hockey coach, University of Minnesota; Kathryn
Martin, chancellor, and Shannon Miller, head women's ice hockey coach,
University of Minnesota-Duluth; Geno Auriemma, head women's basketball
coach, University of Connecticut; and Dan Mote, president, and Gary
Williams, head men's basketball coach, University of Maryland. The
President honored the University of Connecticut's women's basketball
team, the University of Maryland's men's basketball team, the University
of Minnesota's men's ice hockey team, and the University of Minnesota-
Duluth's women's ice hockey team.