Remarks by Vice President Harris and Governor Tim WalzAfter Greeting the Aliquippa High School Football Team

Aliquippa High School
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

4:53 P.M. EDT

     GOVERNOR WALZ:  First of all, Coach, thank you.  To each of you, thanks.  I know we’re interrupting your practice.  The busy part and the important part is out there on the field, but thank you for having us on this. 

     MR. PATRICK:  Appreciate it.  Thank you for coming.

GOVERNOR WALZ:  This is a — this is pretty sacred ground.  Folks in Minnesota know about this place.  We know about this team.  We know the people you produce — not just FN- — NFL players but — but men of a character that come out of this program, because, as Doug said — I’m privileged to be on this team — I’m the current governor of Minnesota, but for 20 years, this was the time of year I looked forward to most.  I was a defensive coordinator at Mankato West High School and coached football and — and taught school. 

Public schools are the foundation of our country.  And I don’t have to tell you, anybody who tells you that it’s just a game — this is more than just a game.  This is about building character.  It’s about doing something bigger than yourself.  It’s about trusting the person that’s standing on each side of you, and, on Friday night, you know they’ll be there.  And if you look around here, the moments that you’re living right now, these guys will be around your whole life.  You’ll remember them.  You’ll remember these plays. 

I can still remember every single call during that state — first state championship, how it went.  It’s that important.  I’ve told people, and they think I’m joking about it, it was harder to win that state football championship than it was to become governor, so — (laughter) — it’s tough work.  You got to count on a lot of things.  You got to do a lot of things. 

And on our team, we ran a 4-4 defense.  (Addressing Jerome Bettis.)  I wouldn’t have wanted to go against this guy, I can tell you that, but — (laughter).  There’s no stopping that run. 

But the kids played hard and — and they understood that it was something bigger than themselves.  And I’ll have to tell you, being out here with — with Vice President Harris, I know it’d be easy — especially now, our politics has been pretty ugly.  Our politics has seemed pretty negative.  Our politics is something that I know what I fear most is, is that young people turn away from it rather than turning into it. 

Politics isn’t that much different than this.  It’s about something bigger than themselves.  It’s about setting a future goal and trying to reach it.  It’s about doing it with dignity and hard work.  It’s about doing it with humility.  And when you lose, you walk across the field and you shake hands with the other team and know they played hard too.  But we’re all in it together to try and make it better. 

And things like investing in this public school and having — I can’t imagine what this place looks like when it’s filled with folks and the lights are on and the leaves are turning and that game is in the fourth quarter and somebody has to make that play, somebody has to step up, and you look to each side of you and you know, “I trust them.  I trust them to make that play.”

Our country’s not that different.  Our neighbors want to be with you.  Our neighbors want to do what’s right.  And the more we figure out that we’re in this thing together and we have more in common than we have separated, we’re going to do a heck of a lot better. 

So, I have to tell you, thanks for taking some time.  Thanks for giving us the privilege to stand on this field, because you earned the right to be on this field.  You earn it with a lot of sweat.  You earn it with a lot of time in the weight room.  You earn it with the folks who came before you and know that they care how you conduct yourselves on this, and we feel the same way. 

We have a responsibility to the American public to conduct ourselves with dignity, conduct ourselves with a vision, and to conduct ourselves and all of this — when football’s done right, it is just fun as heck to play the game.  And that’s the way things can be. 

So, I have to tell you, I am just honored to be with this leader.  I’m honored with someone who’s showing us that.  I’m honored with someone who’s out doing politics with a smile on her face and with a sense of that everybody matters. 

And we’re here in this space to say — it’s not just a cliché — our future is with you, and we have a responsibility to deliver it to you in good shape, to make sure that we’re doing the right things to give you a good shot at the future. 

And so, for me, it’s a privilege to be on this team.  It’s a privilege to see this leader do it with such joy.  And it’s a privilege for me to get to introduce to you — and this is, like, some of the first times I’m getting to do this — the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris.  (Applause.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, I’ve been reading about you all and hearing about you and your excellence and how you work as a team. 

And we’ve got 79 days to go until the election, but we wanted to stop by and I wanted to stop by so I could tell you all in person, looking at each of you in your eyes, that our nation is counting on you and your excellence.  We applaud your ambition.  You want to compete.  You want to win.  And I will tell you that we, as a country, deserve to give you every opportunity that you have to achieve your excellence that you were born with, that is God-given, and that is going to be laying the path to the future of our nation. 

You all are the future of our country.  And you all have known from the day you were born, we’re all born leaders, and it’s just a matter of when people decide to turn that on. 

The fact that you’re on this field today tells me you decided to turn it on at an early stage of your life — to be a leader and to be a role model. 

And, you know, it’s not easy being a role model.  Welcome to the role model club — (laughter) — right? 

     Being a role model, Pete, means that members of your family, people you know in the neighborhood, others, your classmates, they watch you to see what you do.  What goes into that kind of excellence?  What goes into being a winning team?

And you all have taken it upon yourselves to take on that responsibility of being role models and to inspire people you may not even know are watching you to see how you can achieve success.  And by doing that and all that that requires — which is the hard work; the practice; working as a team; knowing that you will be undefeated, even if you don’t win every game, but no circumstance or event or moment will defeat your spirit and your fight and your preparedness to win and excel, that nothing will dampen your spirit of excellence — that’s what I’m counting on from each of you and that’s what makes our nation strong.

So, you keep doing what you’re doing and know that there are so many people you may not see at any one moment who are cheering you on.  When they’re in the stands, when you’re in your classroom, when you are living your life on a daily basis, know that we are applauding you in everything that you are and do — on this field when you are playing and off this field when you are just being the leaders that I know you are. 

You wouldn’t be able to be such a successful team if you weren’t leaders in every way. 

And the last point I’ll make is this.  One of the other things that we really are counting on for your leadership is to remind folks that we are a team, right?  Everybody has a li- — little bit that’s different about them.  But within the vast majority of us who have seemingly differences, the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.  And you guys know that.  You know that in the way you operate as one team.

So, take that spirit with you in everything that you do.  I’m counting on your leadership.  Our nation is counting on you guys. 

And go out and win some games.  And I’ll see you later.  (Laughter.)     

Okay.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

END                     5:01 P.M.

# # #