Remarks Honoring the NCAA Basketball Champion University Of
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Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 / May 20 903 And let me say that there's one other per- and their supporters. I see the Lieutenant son that deserves some credit here, and I Governor of Kentucky over here and many want to introduce himÐour Secretary of other people who are supporting these two Transportation, Federico PenÄ a, who strongly teams. supported this project and worked with us. It is true that I am aÐI suppose a fanatic And I'd like to have Secretary PenÄ a say a would be too mild a word for itÐbasketball word to you, too. fan. And I tried to watch every game that [At this point, Secretary PenÄa reviewed the was on television, at least part of it, during economic impact of the airport expansion.] this tournament. It was a fabulous tour- nament, in both the women's and the men's Mr. McNamara. You know, Secretary, divisions. The people who won should have Don Washburn and I still remember the cat- won. But, as the Vice President said, just be- tle prod you used to put us back at the table, cause you're ahead and you're the favorite and it was very effective. You might tell the doesn't mean you always win. I hope every- President, and I might also tell you, that body around here remembers that. [Laugh- Mayor Dennis Archer just dropped by to say ter] hi and to congratulate us. He happens to be I want to congratulate the Lady Vols. They in the room with us also. were terrific, especially down the stretch. The President. Hello, Mayor. Michelle Marciniak, their most valuable play- Mayor Archer. How are you doing, Mr. er, and all the teamÐthey reallyÐto win in President? the finals you have to play as a team. And Mr. McNamara. He says, ``How are you I sawÐI got a note from my staff before I doing, Mr. President?'' came out here that says that there is a sign The President. I'm doing great. I think outside their locker room back in Knoxville you all are too. that says, ``Offense fills seats. Defense wins Mr. McNamara. We certainly appreciate games. And rebounding wins champion- all of your efforts and the fact that you were ships.'' That's kind of the way it works around with us today. And we will promise not to here. [Laughter] And I like that. make any more great demands on you for And I want to say again, as I did to you at least a couple of years. on the phone, Pat Summitt, we thank you The President. Just make the most of this. for your winning ways and we thank you for I know you will. the values, the spirit, and the rules that you Mr. McNamara. I got my fingers crossed. have followed all these years. You have got The President. Thank you all. Good-bye. a formula for success as well as some exceed- ingly gifted young women. And we congratu- NOTE: The President spoke at 5:24 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, late all of you. You've got a lot to be proud he referred to Gov. John Engler of Michigan. of. Now, as you might imagine just from Washington, DC's, location and the number Remarks Honoring the NCAA of people that work from the Federal Gov- Basketball Champion University of ernment, we've got a lot of people around Kentucky Wildcats and University of here that went to the University of Massa- Tennessee Lady Volunteers chusetts and Syracuse and all those places, May 20, 1996 you know. And I told everybody that the best basketball in America this year was in the The President. Thank you. Thank you SEC. We nearly had an all-SEC women's very much. You can sort of see that as far Final Four. SEC did reasonably well in the as this announcement today, I'm the Vice men's division. And if we hadn't had to start President. [Laughter] And Mr. Gore is taking all over again two or three times we might the lead, with his justifiable pride. have had even more in the Final Eight there. I want to welcome the Members of Con- And at the end, I rememberÐwe have one gress who are here, the presidents of these of my staff members who thinks that there's two great universities, all the coaching staff, a basketball waiting for him in heaven who VerDate 28-OCT-97 09:34 Jan 07, 1998 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 W:\DISC\P21MY4.021 p21my4 904 May 20 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 1996 lives in Massachusetts. And I said, they really The President. I must say I liked having are a team with two great guards on offense Mark up here. I was sort of standing in the and defense, but unless Kentucky has a bad shade back thereÐ[laughter]Ðaway from all day no one will get close in this final tour- the bright lights. It was great. What do you nament. And we all know that Kentucky think? Hold it up. never had a bad day. Again, let me sayÐwe're going to take for- And I think one reason isÐmaybe the mal little photos now with the two teams, overwhelming reason isÐthat even though and then we will have a receiving line in the they had fabulous players, many of which next room, so we will break up, but before never got the individual recognition they de- we break up, again let me thank these two serve, they had a great team. And when you great universities, these two great States, and can consistently put 10 people out there that the coaches and the teams. can shoot from anywhere and that can play I think that America likes March Madness defense as well as offenseÐI read, coach, I and likes college basketball as much as any- don't know if this is true, that no one aver- thing else because it is both an individual aged more than 27 minutes a game for the and a team sport. And it has both rules and University of Kentucky. If that's true that's creativity, discipline and energy. And in that a stunning statement about the fact that bas- sense, it is sort of a symbol of what's best ketball is still a team sport. about our country when things are going Interestingly enough, I thought about you well. after I saw the clips from the last Chicago And I hope we can all remember that. We Bulls-Magic game because the Chicago Bulls all need to live with rules and creativity, with stars didn't get many points that day, but the discipline and energy, and we all need to re- team played like a dream. That's the way member that, however good any of us are, your guys played all year. And that's why we're all on a team. And when we're on the you're sporting that 80 percent winning per- team, the team's doing well, the rest of us, centage at Kentucky. And that's why Ken- we do pretty well individually. tucky won the championship that it deserved. So thank you all for that, and God bless And I hope America will remember a lot not you. only about the stunning play of Tony Delk, who deserved to be the outstanding player NOTE: The President spoke at 5:45 p.m. in the of the tournament, but also about the team- East Room at the White House. In his remarks, work that you exhibited all year long. And he referred to Lt. Gov. Steve Henry of Kentucky. we congratulate you. Thank you very much. Now I would like to ask Coach Summitt Remarks at the Funeral Service for and Coach Pitino to come up here and say Admiral Jeremy M. Boorda whatever they would like to say and bring whatever players they would like to play, be- May 21, 1996 cause I know all of you really came to see Mrs. Boorda, Mike's family, Secretary them. But they are all very welcome at the Christopher and our friends from the diplo- White House. Thank you. matic corps, Secretary Perry, Secretary Dal- [At this point, Ms. Summitt thanked her Uni- ton, General Shalikashvili, members of the versity of Tennessee women's team for its ef- Joint Chiefs of Staff, unified commanders in forts during the season and congratulated the chief, the leadership and Members of Con- University of Kentucky men's team for its gress who are here, Admiral Johnson and the success. She then introduced players Michelle flag leadership of our Navy, Master Chief Marciniak and Latina Davis, who presented Petty Officer of the Navy Hagan; to our great gifts to the President and Vice President. Navy sailors and all of America's Armed Next, Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino congratu- Forces. lated the Tennessee women's team and intro- Today we come to honor and give thanks duced players Mark Pope and Tony Delk, for the life of Mike Boorda, a special man who presented gifts to the President and Vice who earned a special place in the heart of President.] his Navy and the heart of our Nation. He VerDate 28-OCT-97 09:34 Jan 07, 1998 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 1244 Sfmt 1244 W:\DISC\P21MY4.021 p21my4.