It was one of those moments you love to see. She was standing on the podium holding her grandson and accepting a national championship trophy.
Kim Mulkey, one of the best basketball players I have ever seen play and coach, accepted her third national title trophy for the Baylor women’s basketball program on Sunday. But it was the image of her grandson, Kannon Reid Fuller, remaining calm in his grandmother’s arms that caught the media’s attention. Kannon’s mother, Makenzie, is the associate director of operations for her mother’s squad.
During practice and on the floor, Kim is known for her intensity. That’s been a hallmark of her on-court style from high school all the way to leading Louisiana Tech to the first-ever women’s national basketball championship.
She was an assistant coach on Leon Barmore’s staff in 1988 when the Lady Techsters beat Auburn in the national championship game.
On Sunday, she cemented her coaching legacy, joining Pat Summit and Geno Auriemma as the only head coaches to win three women’s basketball national championships.
The side of Kim that many people do not see is her off-the-court role as mother and now grandmother.
“We all laugh at what people really perceive me to be because all the public sees is that sideline,” she said in a recent interview with Modern Texas Living. “I have a job to do and I’m intense, I’m passionate, I hate to lose and if I’m going to expect my players to play extremely hard and give me everything they have, then I need to do the same in return.”
She is also passionate about working in her yard. Ruston residents saw that while driving across town.
“I’m very much rooted in the values of a home and family and I don’t go out and have crazy trips and a social life,” she told the magazine.
In a television interview earlier this season, Mulkey said after work, she is a grandmother.
“I’m laying on the floor with the baby playing with him and out in the yard working,” she said.
Kim and Makenzie, along with her husband, Clay Fuller, have endured a lot. The couple’s first baby, a girl named Scout Maire, didn’t develop properly and died after doctors were unable to detect a heartbeat during a checkup while Makenzie was pregnant.
When Kannon was born, Makenzie wanted to honor her daughter, too, and chose to dress him in a onesie that read “handpicked for earth by my sister in heaven.”
Kim said watching her daughter and son-in-law cope with the loss of their daughter “made me a better person.”
Kim Mulkey is a role model young people, both boys and girls, can look up to for inspiration.
Congratulations, Kim, on another championship. More importantly, congratulations for being a good grandmother and mother.
Ben Barkley is the managing editor of the Snyder Daily News. He has covered news and sports for more than 25 years in Louisiana and Texas. Comments about his column can be emailed to barkley@snyderdailynews.com.