Quote

The muscular, athletic type is not representative of the human race, who are varied in their physique.

I remember standing on a medal podium at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, imbued with a sense that if you won enough basketball games, there was no such thing as poor, backward, country, female, or inferior.

Very few athletes have the chance to be brought into the White House.

Very few men are fortunate enough to gain distinction during their first term in Congress.

It often seemed like we had become a nation where the only heroes were rock singers and ball players and that there were no large men of probity who could be called upon for the task.

Discrimination and prejudice of any kind have no place in sports or in our society.

There were no women's players I knew of. I didn't even know women's hockey existed.

Then in a fraction of a second, I realized that these sportsmen were not anyone's enemies.