April 15, 1999

Mr. President, it is somewhat appropriate, I say to my friend and colleague from Connecticut, that the Presiding Officer is from Ohio. But for Ohio, we would not have made it to the Final Four, the final game.

This is a moment of great joy for my colleague and I and for the people of Connecticut. We express our condolences to the delegation from North Carolina, the home of Duke University. It is a fine university with a fine basketball team that led the Nation ranked number one for a good part of the season. But, unfortunately, on that night of March 29 in St. Petersburg, FL, the Blue Devils met the Husky team from Connecticut in what many have described as one of the best national championship finals in collegiate basketball history. Ultimately, our team from the University of Connecticut prevailed. To say that there is a great sense of pride in Connecticut and enthusiasm and joy over this victory is to understate the case by a considerable margin. We are a State that, over many years, has had to export our allegiances in athletics. We have had a hockey team and a women's professional basketball team, both of which have left our State. There is a good possibility we will be the home of the New England Patriots in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, it has been our men and women's basketball teams at UCONN that have captured the attention of everybody in our State, and I might say, as well, beyond our State's borders. I think a good part of the Nation was rooting for this 9 1/2 point underdog on March 29 as they prevailed in this great victory.

I want to mention a couple of people if I can. First of all is Jim Calhoun, the Head Coach of the UCONN men's basketball team. He has been with the team for 13 years and has had a wonderful, wonderful record, including capturing the 1988 NIT title and appearing in six `Sweet 16's,' and three `Elite 8" rounds. And he has now led the team to victory in the national championship. He is not only a outstanding coach, but also a wonderful human being with great dedication to his team, his players, the university, and our State. As well, his coaching staff is a fine group of people who have also dedicated so much energy and time to making this team the success it has been.

I would also like to mention some of our UCONN players and commend a couple of the fine athletes who made such significant contributions in the championship game.

Our sophomore guard is Khalid El-Amin. We thank the State of Minnesota because he was a native and decided to make the University of Connecticut his home for basketball purposes. He has been a sparkplug for our team and has done a tremendous job. As many will recall, he made two free throws in that final game with only 5.2 seconds left, which absolutely iced the victory for UCONN.

Richard Hamilton has become one of the great players in collegiate history. He was the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA tournament, the Most Valuable Player in the Big East tournament this year, and is truly one of the great, great players not only at the University of Connecticut, but also throughout the Nation.

Other players like Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman, and Jake Voskuhl did a great job as well, all contributing when it counted most. Moore and Freeman, I think, deserve special recognition for proving that defense is valuable. It is not just who can score the most points, but who can be a great defensive player. Both of them did a terrific job in proving the value of that element of this wonderful, unique game now played worldwide. Basketball is a game that began in Springfield, MA, something that we in America take pride in as it is a sport that is home-grown.

Lastly, Mr. President, the fans, the student body, the administration, Phillip Austin, President of the university, the Board of Trustees, and the faithful alumni were all in that arena to watch the Ohio State game, and then the final game on Monday. They were both great games. I know the former Governor of that State, the occupant of the Chair, takes great pride in Ohio State. The coach of your team was an assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. He was in Florida and rooting for Connecticut, I can tell you, during that final game. I am sure he would have liked to have been coaching that game instead, but despite not being there himself, and given his former relationship with the University of Connecticut, it is understandable how he felt a special affection for the UCONN team.

Again, Mr. President, as I began, let me end. This was a great moment for our State. The people are very proud of the accomplishments of this team and our university. Senator Lieberman and I wanted to take a moment out of the Senate business to recognize the accomplishments of these fine young men of the University of Connecticut and thank the people of our State who have so faithfully supported them throughout these many years.

Mr. President, at this time I would like to recognize all the coaches and players of the 1999 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team: Head Coach Jim Calhoun, Associate Head Coach Dave Leitao, Assistant Coach Karl Hobbs, Assistant Coach Tom Moore, Beau Archibald, Justin Brown, Khalid El-Amin, Kevin Freeman, Richard Hamilton, E.J. Harrison, Rashamel Jones, Antric Klaiber, Ricky Moore, Albert Mouring, Edmund Saunders, Souleymane Wane, and Jake Voskuhl.

With that, I yield to my colleague, an equally fervent champion and fan of the UCONN team.

 

Mr. LIEBERMAN. Hear, hear, Mr. President. I thank my friend and colleague from Connecticut. I am proud to join with him in introducing this resolution commemorating what was truly one of the most thrilling and uplifting moments in the modern history of our State--and I do not say that lightly--the national championship won by the University of Connecticut men's basketball team.

I think to understand what this achievement means to our relatively small State, my colleagues have to understand what this UCONN team has meant for the last decade to the people of Connecticut. I don't think there are many teams in the country that have a more rabid following than our Huskies. From their home base in Storrs, clear across the State to Stamford, from Stonington in the east to Salisbury in the northwest, every basketball season, the people of Connecticut are gripped with a delirium known affectionately as `Huskymania,' which makes every day of the season seem like March Madness in Connecticut. The interest is so intense that the Huskies, hailing from the third smallest State in America, travel with the largest contingent of reporters in all of college basketball, referred to simply as `the horde.'

Now, Mr. President, over the last decade, Huskymania has been heightened by the enormous success of our great coach, Jim Calhoun and athletic director, Lew Perkins. UCONN has dominated the storied Big East Conference, winning six regular season championships, distinguishing itself in NCAA tournament play, advancing to the Elite Eight three different times. The one thing missing was a trip to the fabled Final Four and a national championship, and that dream was realized on March 29 with the victory over the Duke Blue Devils in what has to have been, not just for Connecticut fans, but for basketball fans all over the country, one of the great games in recent history of college basketball.

The Huskies' thrilling victory touched off a joyous celebration in our State, which is normally known as `the land of steady habits,' an exhilaration which I experienced literally firsthand that night. I could not go to Florida to see the game, but I did the next best thing--I went to Coach's Bar and Grill in Hartford, CT, which is partially owned by Coach Calhoun. Let me just say to my colleagues on the floor, I was, by far, the senior citizen in the bar that night. It seemed like about half of the State's under-30 population was there. The fervor was intense and the joy extreme when the game was over.

Let me say that we are proud of this victory, but we are also really proud of the values that are part of it--the teamwork, the sacrifice, the sportsmanship, the determination and the dignity this team and its coach showed in scrapping and hustling their way to the pinnacle of college basketball. The character of this UCONN team is an apt reflection of their great coach, Jim Calhoun, who is a great coach because he is a great man, a man of indomitable spirit, tremendous values, and a great pursuit of excellence. I am thrilled that Coach Calhoun is finally getting his due as one of the Nation's great coaches.

For now, I am grateful for the wonderful gift that Jim and his players have given the people of Connecticut, for the way they brought such a diverse State together and reaffirmed our sense of community, for living up to our highest ideals of sport and--if you will allow me a pun in the name of the Huskies--for showing that every dog does indeed have their day.

Now, Mr. President, if I may close somewhat unusually, at Coach's Bar and Grill on the night of the game, one of the young men there, at a critical moment in the first half, turned to me and asked me if I would lead the UCONN cheer, and I did that. I was criticized the first time because they said my N's were not too good. You will see what I mean in a moment. As the game went on, I was called on repeatedly to lead this cheer, and of course, we in Coach's Bar and Grill feel that made the margin of difference in the victory that occurred in Florida that night.

If you will allow me, Mr. President, here is the cheer: U-C-O-N-N, UCONN, UCONN, UCONN.

Thank you. I urge adoption of the resolution.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution.

The resolution (S. Res. 77) was agreed to.

The preamble was agreed to.

The resolution (S. Res. 77), with its preamble, reads as follows:

 

S. Res. 77

Whereas the University of Connecticut men's basketball team capped a remarkable season by defeating the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils 77-74, on March 29, 1999, in St. Petersburg, Florida, to win its 1st national championship in its 1st `Final Four' appearance;

Whereas the Huskies finished with a regular season record of 34-2, the best in the program's proud 96 years of competition;

Whereas the Huskies firmly established themselves as the dominant team of the decade in the storied Big East Conference, winning their 6th regular season title and their 4th tournament championship of the 1990s;

Whereas UConn's Richard `Rip' Hamilton distinguished himself in the championship game and throughout the season as one of the premier players in all of college basketball, winning his 2d Big East Player of the Year award, earning 1st team All-America honors, and closing out a spectacular offensive performance in the NCAA tournament by being named the most valuable player of the Final Four.

Whereas UConn's senior co-captain Ricky Moore distinguished himself as one of the Nation's top defensive players, personifying the grit, determination, and fierce will to win that carried the Huskies throughout the year;

Whereas UConn coach Jim Calhoun instilled in his players an unceasing ethic of dedication, sacrifice, and teamwork in the pursuit of excellence, and instilled in the rest of us a renewed appreciation of what it means to win with dignity, integrity, and true sportsmanship;

Whereas the Huskies' thrilling victory in the NCAA championship game enraptured their loyal and loving fans from Storrs to Stamford, taking `Huskymania' to new heights and filling the State with an overwhelming sense of pride, honor, and community;

Whereas the UConn basketball team's national championship spotlighted one of the Nation's premier State universities, that is committed to academic as well as athletic excellence: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate commends and congratulates the Huskies of the University of Connecticut for winning the 1999 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the president of the University of Connecticut.