JD Vance fumbles Ohio State title trophy at White House event
Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeye’s football team were honored at the White House for their 2024 national championship victory.
WASHINGTON ― It was nearly a disastrous late-game turnover.
JD Vance fumbled the college football National Championship Trophy as he tried to hoist it up during a White House celebration for the vice president’s home state Ohio State Buckeyes.
At the conclusion of the ceremony on the White House’s South Lawn, Vance began to lift the trophy awarded to Ohio State for winning the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship Game in January.
But ‒ as the White House band played Queen’s “We are the Champions” ‒ it wasn’t the triumphant moment Vance had hoped.
The base of the 35-pound trophy broke off as Vance held it up with help from star Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson. With Vance gripping the base and Henderson grabbing the gold football, the break occurred when they tilted the trophy instead of raising it straight upward.
Vance dropped the base, but fortunately another teammate helped catch the main part of the trophy before it could fall to the ground.
Vance joked about the mishap afterward. “I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it,” Vance said in a post on X.
The college football trophy, which stands at 26.5 inches tall, is made of gold, bronze and stainless steel. The 12-inch base is bronze with a hand-rubbed black patina finish. The trophy is American-made by fine art foundry UAP Polich Tallix.
Prior to the trophy incident, President Donald Trump and Vance applauded Ohio State’s 34-23 victory over the University of Notre Dame, handing the Buckeyes the first college football national championship of the new 12-team playoff era.
“I’m proud of you guys,” said Vance, who served two years as a U.S. senator from Ohio. “You guys were resilient. You were tough. You represented the state of Ohio well. You represented the whole country well.”
Vance then spotted someone in the audience wearing a hat promoting the University of Michigan, Ohio State’s longtime arch rival.
“I don’t know who let the guy over in the corner here in a Michigan hat into this celebration,” Vance said with a laugh, drawing some boos. “But I’m about to tell the Secret Service you’ve got a dangerous weapon.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
