Transy senior Dasia Thornton told coach Julie Fulks she planned to eventually be president of the United States when she arrived on campus. (Transy Athletics Photo)
Winning the Division III national championship continues to be an “onslaught of blessings” for the Transylvania women’s basketball team.
Recently coach Julie Fulks and her team took part in the NCAA’s College Athlete Day celebration at the White House in Washington, D.C., along with 46 teams from 19 different sports.
“We got to all be together again and celebrate,” said Fulks. “We had a great time.”
Transylvania went 33-0 last season — it lost only one game the season before — to earn the championship and trip to the White House. President Joe Biden could not be there but vice president Kamala Harris told the champions how much they had inspired so many across the country.
“Everybody was excited about getting to meet the president and going to the White House but the flip side is she is the first female African-American vice president and she was very empowering for our athletes,” Fulks said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk. “Her message correlates with what we talk about when we bring people from all backgrounds with different life stories together. I loved what she talked about.”
Fulks was driving to northwest Ohio to watch her nephew compete in a track meet when she got an email with the White House invitation. However, she thought it was spam and did not respond. Next came an email from her athletics director asking if the Pioneers wanted to go to Washington, D.C., or not.
“I was an immediate yes but I put it out to our players and it was an overwhelming, excited response to go,” the coach said. “We had actually joked about going to the White House but never expected to do it.”
The team flew out early on a Sunday and spent every free moment touring the nation’s capitol before coming home the next night.
“We joked we were the national champions of tourism. We went as hard as we did winning our national championship. Half our team had never been there and I wanted them to see the (national) monuments at night. We wanted to get into some museums,” Fulks said. “We saw a lot but there was nothing like walking into the White House and onto that lawn. There were multiple layers of security with Marines and Secret Service on the lawn but they were all so friendly. One of our players even got a business card for a potential future job with Homeland Security.”
Another Pioneer, senior Dasia Thornton, has always wanted to be at the White House. She told Fulks when she arrived on campus that she planned to eventually be president.
“She was never shy about that. She told us now her goal is to go into the Peace Corps and she will be awesome at that. She has a real skill for that type of work and is great with media, too,” Fulks said. “Our team joked this was just a trip to go on before she lives there. I told her I want her to hire me as her chief of staff so I can go back to the White House, too.”
