U.S. Vice President JD Vance added an unexpected twist to the Ohio State football team’s White House celebration Monday when he accidentally fumbled the national championship trophy.
Following speeches from President Donald Trump, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day and Vance himself on the South Lawn, the Ohio State alumnus attempted to lift the hardware in a moment of pride. But the trophy’s two-piece design – with a detachable golden football atop a black base – caught him off guard.
As Vance hoisted it, the pieces separated. Running back TreVeyon Henderson quickly snatched the golden top midair, while the base clattered to the ground and rolled away, prompting the vice president to scramble after it.
It wasn’t quite the play OSU fans are used to, but it was certainly a moment to remember.
Some of the players around the vice president winced. The United States Marine Corps Band, which performs at presidential events, had to compete with audible gasps from the players and crowd as it played “We Are the Champions.”
Henderson and Day helped Vance reassemble the trophy, and the vice president later held just the top, cradling it in his arms while the players around him chuckled.
As pictures and videos of Vance’s fumble rocketed across the internet, the vice president tried to explain away the gaffe with self-deprecation: “I didn’t want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it,” he wrote on X.
Trump credited the Ohio State team with winning the 2024 college football championship despite “adversity,” including the team’s upset loss to unranked Michigan, 13-10, at home in November.
Trump said he hesitated to mention OSU’s fourth consecutive defeat to “the team up north – we won’t talk about it.”
Before fumbling the trophy, Vance also used part of his speech to mention the Buckeyes’ biggest rival, singling out an audience member in a Michigan hat.
“I don’t know who let the guy over in the corner here, in a Michigan hat, into this celebration,” Vance said. “But I’m about to tell the Secret Service, ‘You’ve got a dangerous weapon, sir.’”
