A fan of the University of Michigan college football revealed why he wore a Wolverines hat to the White House celebration of the Ohio State University football championship on Monday.
The decision by Mark Gull of Alexandria, Virginia to wear a University of Michigan hat, a legendary OSU rival, earned him a shoutout from a disapproving Vice President JD Vance.
‘I don’t know who let the guy over in the corner here in a Michigan hat into this celebration but I’m about to tell the Secret Service you’ve got a dangerous weapon, sir,’ Vance, an alumni of the OSU Buckeyes joked after spotting the man in a blue and yellow hat in a sea of white and red colors on the South Lawn.
Gull told Outkick.com that he was a life-long Michigan fan and did it out of respect for his now deceased father, who was from the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan.
“I had to wear my hat today even if I got beat up,” Gull revealed. ‘It was awesome.’
He admitted that his daughter graduated from Ohio State in 2020 with a degree in civil engineering, but that he remained true to his loyalty to Michigan, despite his family’s efforts to get him to switch.
Gull’s daughter appeared with him at the White House and wore Ohio state colors and merchandise for the event.
He said he did not want to disrespect Ohio State’s accomplishment, but felt it necessary to represent his team at the White House.
“You know, I’m respecting Ohio State,” Mark said. “They did a good job. Good for them. I feel good for the coach because he got a raw deal from the fans, so I thought I’d represent as a Michigan fan.”
Trump gave a nod to the legendary rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan, noting the teams’ loss to ‘that team up North’ in the final game of the regular season.
“This team showed the world that the road to greatness is paved by hard work, sweat and often a great deal of adversity,” the president said. “They had a lot of adversity. I shouldn’t say this, I actually said, ‘Should I leave this line out?’ They said, ‘Sir, they wanna hear the whole thing. The bad and the good.’ But many people counted you out after the losses against Oregon, which is a great team, and that team up north. We won’t talk about it.