Vandy’s Sarah Fuller Makes Bogus Athletic History

After reading an article by Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, it appears that I am a hater and a troglodyte, and my masculinity is easily threatened. I beg to disagree. Unlike Forde and some others in the American media, I have a deep and abiding commitment to reality. Rather than offend you with a lot of balderdash, Rich-Rich will speak the truth. Sarah Fuller’s appearance in the Vanderbilt–Missouri football game last Saturday was not “one giant blast for womankind” as Forde breathlessly wrote.

It was the first time a female went on the field in a game between Power 5 teams—members of the Southeastern, Big 12, Big 10, Atlantic Coast and Pacific 12 conferences. The distinction is necessary because Liz Heaston of Willamette, Katie Hnida of Colorado and New Mexico, and Ashley Martin of Jacksonville State preceded her. All, like Fuller, were kickers. Hnida spent just one year with the Buffaloes (a P5 team) but never left the sideline.

I support women’s athletics, and that is a matter of record, so I see no need to go over it again. Young Ms. Fuller’s groundbreaking achievement against Mizzou, however, amounted to little. She did what three other women had already done, at lower levels of college football. Indeed, she did less since Heaston, Hnida and Martin all scored for their teams with extra points and/or field goals.

The 2020 Commodores are a team in shambles. Having lost 41-0 to Missouri, they stand 0-8 and last in the SEC West. The COVID pandemic has wreaked havoc with every school, but consider that Vandy’s four home games have been attended by 2,000, 1,288, 840 and 1,147 fans. Seven members of the Vanderbilt team have opted out—that is, chosen not to play this season. Another eight have entered the transfer portal. They want to play college ball, but not in Nashville. Just a couple of days after Fuller’s debut, coach Derek Mason was fired. What might Dan McGugin (football coach from 1904 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1934) have done? McGugin, whose teams won 11 conference championships and dominated southern football like Gulliver over the Lilliputians, would probably have found a way for the black and gold to pull out of this mile-deep hole.

Were it not for COVID, Fuller would have finished her athletic career as an obscure four-year letter winner on the women’s soccer team. (There is no longer a men’s soccer team due to Title 9.) Pierson Cooke, Wes Farley and Javan Rice, the team’s kickers, all tested positive and were quarantined for that game against the Tigers. A couple of other guys on the team had done a little kicking in high school and surely could have served in a pinch. But somebody—I would dearly love to know who—decided to think outside of the box. A call was made to Darren Ambrose, the soccer coach. He suggested Fuller, a 6′ 2″ Texan who had played goalie for him. To her credit, she agreed to give it a shot. Fuller put on pads and helmet, and showed that she could kick an oblong ball as well as a round one. She had limitations, however. Fuller’s longest successful field goal in practice was 38 yards, and she kicked low. Doing so against a defense intent on blocking it and rasslin’ for the ball would have left this distaff would-be footballer in genuine danger.

With Mizzou up 21-0 at the half, Vanderbilt would be kicking off. Fuller, wearing number 32, trotted on the field and did as directed by Mason: She punched a low, directional kick that went 27 yards. One of the Tigers dutifully fell on it, making no attempt to pick up the ball and run—evidence that both teams knew this was a charade. Furthermore, Fuller retreated toward the Vandy bench as soon as she made her “historic” kick. I admit that many male kickers in college and the NFL also don’t do much after putting foot to ball. (A few do, though, one of them being Sebastian Janikowski [Florida State, Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks]. He used to go downfield and look for players in differently colored jerseys to hit.)

Forde insisted that Fuller’s participation against Missouri was “not a publicity stunt from a winless team or a coach on the hot seat trying to engender some positive P.R.” Sports Illustrated’s man lied through his teeth, because it was exactly that. Glowing tweets came from the Tennessee Titans and the Nashville SC pro soccer team. The New York Times, ESPN, Yahoo and other media outlets also gave it the rah-rah; a female writer named Seerat Sohi carried on about the significance of Fuller’s pooch-kick and said she wept. I had a rather different emotional response as I looked at each of those stories, rolled my eyes and muttered, “Oh, please.”