[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 17 (Monday, April 30, 2007)]
[Pages 512-514]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Honoring the 2007 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts

April 23, 2007

    The President. Thank you all. Please be seated. How about it? Like, 
the Indianapolis Colts here on the South Lawn--congratulations. Welcome 
to the Super Bowl champs.
    I want to welcome Jim Irsay and Meg and Carlie, Casey, and Kalen. I 
had the honor of calling Jim after they won. I understand how hard it is 
to be an owner of a sports team and win. [Laughter] I never did it--
[laughter]--but he has, and I congratulate the organization. I 
congratulate Bill Polian as well. I want to thank all the front office 
personnel, the schedulers, the ticket sellers, the travel arrangers, the 
people who never get any credit. I appreciate you being part of a fine 
organization. And we're here on the South Lawn to congratulate you.
    I congratulate the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy. 
And I'm glad his wife, Lauren, is here as well. Tony Dungy is the first 
African American coach to ever win a Super Bowl. That in itself is a 
great honor. But interestingly enough, he is a man who has used his--a 
position of notoriety to behave in a quiet and strong way in the face of 
personal tragedy that has influenced a lot of our fellow citizens. And I 
want to thank you for your courage.
    Alphonso Jackson is here with us, Secretary of the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development. Prior to today, he told me he was a 
Cowboy fan. [Laughter] Like, what are you doing here, A.J.? Oh, okay, 
you wanted to see the coach. All right, good. Yes. I thank Randy Tobias, 
who was an executive from Indianapolis but ran our HIV/AIDS initiative--
by the way, helped people in Africa receive antiretroviral drugs. When 
we came in, there was 50,000 people receiving antiretroviral drugs; now 
there's 850,000 people receiving antiretroviral drugs. Tobias, thank you 
for your compassion. Al Hubbard, Economic Adviser to the President, is 
here--Indianapolis Colt fan.
    I want to thank Members of the Congress who have joined us today, 
starting with Senator Evan Bayh and Susan. It's good to see the Bayh 
lads with them. Thank you all for coming. Appreciate you being here. Dan 
Burton--appreciate you coming, Dan, and, Samia, I'm glad you're here. 
Thanks for coming, Samia. Mark Souder, Julia Carson, Mike Pence, Baron 
Hill, Joe Donnelly, and Brad Ellsworth--glad you all are here. Some of 
these guys get elected for the first time, and the first thing that 
happens is, the Indianapolis Colts win the Super Bowl. You're not taking 
credit, are you? [Laughter]
    I want to thank all the coaches who are here. I want to thank the 
families of the Colt family who have helped this organization flourish. 
I want to--most of all, I want to thank the players. I am proud of you; 
the country is proud of you. The people from Indiana have supported you, 
and you didn't let them down. As a matter fact, this is--last time you 
won as Colts, though, was 1971. Interesting, I thought about that. Most 
of you weren't even born. I was, and that's when they beat our Cowboys, 
A.J. [Laughter] But you've--as Bill put it, he said, ``Finally.'' And a 
lot of Indianapolis fans said, ``Thank goodness.'' They love to support 
this team, and you didn't let them down.
    It was a pretty tough season, though, when you think about it. It 
wasn't one of these runaways. It looked like it was going to be a 
runaway--Secretary Rice, if you want to come in, please, yes. So, like, 
you're a big Dungy fan, aren't you?
    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Yes, sir.
    The President. That's right; that's what I thought.
    So the season started off good, like you won the first nine games, 
and then it appeared this championship team was going to fizzle; it 
wasn't going to make it. And so they--you lost four out of seven. And 
they started to, like, write you off, right? They kind of say--you 
probably--some of these sports writers started to say, you know, well, 
they don't have what it takes; they can kind of do okay until it comes 
to the big one, and then they just don't have the character necessary to 
make it work. They did okay in the wild card, and you move your way 
through the playoffs, and then all of a sudden, the guy on Super Bowl 41 
runs the kickoff back. [Laughter] I'm sure a lot of those skeptics were 
saying, ``Told you so; the Indianapolis Colts, good players, fine 
people, just don't

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have what it takes to win.'' But as the coach said, ``Our guys just kept 
saying, `We're going to fight; we're not going to be denied.' That heart 
will take you a long way.''
    And so this is a victory for good hearts--good hearts off the field 
and good hearts on the field. And we congratulate you. Thank you for 
winning.
    So a lot of people here in the White House compound have been really 
looking forward to seeing Peyton Manning. They wanted to see a guy who 
gets more air time than I do. [Laughter] I met Peyton Manning. He said, 
``I'm going to be here during your Presidency. We will be here having 
won the Super Bowl.'' And sure enough, he delivered. And, Peyton, thank 
you for being a fine person and a good quarterback.
    I'm sure Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne are saying, thanks for 
being a good quarterback; thanks for getting us the ball. After all, 
these two players ranked second and third in the NFL in receiving in 
the--during the regular season. That's called balanced attack, 
particularly when you added that LSU guy, Joseph. Where's Joseph? There 
he is. Yes, sir. [Laughter] Congratulations to you. Dominic Rhodes led 
the NFL in rushing yards in the post-season. You had people who can 
catch the ball, a guy who can throw the ball, and people who can run the 
ball.
    People held your defense as suspect, but not when it counted. I can 
remember all the analysts saying, ``Well, the defense is a little short 
this year. They may have the offensive firepower, but they can't play on 
the other side of the ball.'' Until it mattered, and then the defense 
stood up and helped this team become a Super Bowl champ.
    And so to the offense, congratulations on doing what people 
expected. To the defense, thanks for helping this team be here in the 
White House as well.
    It's good to be the presence of Adam Vinatieri--again. [Laughter] 
The man knows how to pick a winner--[laughter]--and help contribute to a 
winner. You know, in 2005, he didn't make it to the White House, and I 
asked why. It was a simple matter of he and his wife were having a 
child. I hope the kid is doing well.
    Adam Vinatieri. Thank you.
    The President. We're glad you're here, Adam; thank you very much.
    I appreciate what guard Ryan Lilja said. He said, ``The whole team 
has fought hard the whole season, through ups and downs.'' Isn't that 
what life is about; isn't it, really? Through the ups--it's easy to 
fight hard in the ups. It's when the downs come that you've got to be a 
fighter. He said, ``I couldn't be prouder to be a part of this football 
team.''
    And I couldn't be prouder to welcome the football team to the South 
Lawn of the White House. I appreciate what this team does. I appreciate 
the example you set. I appreciate the fact that you understand that off 
the field, a lot of people are looking at you to determine whether or 
not they want to be like you.
    I thank you very much for the ``Bleed Blood Blue Drive''--that's 
hard for a guy from west Texas to say--[laughter]--``Bleed Blood Blue 
Drive,'' in which you've encouraged 2,000 people to donate blood. I 
appreciate the book drives that you've held to promote literacy in the 
State of Indiana. I appreciate the food drives that you've held to fight 
hunger in the State of Indiana. I appreciate the Colts Football Fund.
    Most of all, I appreciate you all. Thanks for coming. God bless.
    Jim Irsay. Mr. President, we have a special gift to present to you 
from the Irsay family and the Colts organization. I knew that you'd love 
these specially made cowboy hats. We have some special dedications 
inside there for you, sir, and I hope you'll enjoy it.
    The President. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
    Mr. Irsay. You're welcome.
    The President. Pretty snazzy, huh? [Laughter] Yes, thank you.
    Tony Dungy. And on behalf of the team, we got you a Bush Colts 
jersey. We normally go number 1, but in this case, we had to go 43.
    The President. Yes, that's right. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:08 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Jim Irsay, owner, Bill Polian, 
president, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, wide receivers, Joseph 
Addai, running back, Dominic Rhodes, former running back, Adam 
Vinatieri,

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kicker, and Ryan Lilja, offensive guard, Indianapolis Colts; and Meg 
Coyle Irsay, wife of Jim Irsay, and their daughters, Carlie, Casey, and 
Kalen.