Heidi Alexander: “I wish to speak this afternoon about a lesson that Washington, DC can learn from Maryville, TN, which is my hometown. It…”

“I wish to speak this afternoon about a lesson that Washington, DC can learn from Maryville, TN, which is my hometown. It is a lesson that most of us learned in kindergarten and I learned in my mother's kindergarten, which was in a converted garage in our backyard, and it was three words: ``Work well together.'' The latest example of that was all over the sports pages of my hometown on Sunday: ``Historic Championship: Maryville Wins the 13th State Title--Most Ever.'' Our football team has learned to work well together. They earned their second consecutive State championship, as the newspaper said. They beat Memphis Whitehaven. I watched the game on statewide television. Their record this year was 15 and 0. It was their ninth State title and ninth perfect season under an extraordinary coach, George Quarles, who has won 179 games and lost 13 in his career in Maryville. This is the most State titles of any school in Tennessee's history. The team scored 35 or more points in 109 of Coach Quarles' first 191 games. Maryville has averaged 30 or more points in 12 of its 13 seasons under coach Quarles and its senior quarterback this year, Patton Robinette, who has scholarships from good schools everywhere, was named the Gatorade Tennessee Football Player of the Year, part of which has to do with his academic credentials. He has a straight A-plus average. This leads me to the second thing they work well together on in Maryville, TN.…”