Teacher in viral basketball clip is an ex-Rutgers player – NJ.com
She dribbles, takes two steps forward and drains the full-court Hail Mary.
And the crowd — her third-grade class — goes wild.
In a viral video, a teacher at Holy Trinity School in Washington D.C. knocked down a playground desperation jumper after promising her students hot chocolate if she made it.
The teacher is Kathleen Fitzpatrick and this wasn’t her first time shooting a basketball.
Fitzpatrick is a former Rutgers women’s basketball player. She was a redshirt senior in the 2017-18 season, appearing in 31 games and starting in 16.
This 2017 file photo shows Kathleen Fitzpatrick (far left) with her Rutgers teammates. (Ben Solomon/Rutgers athletics)
That wasn’t lost on Rutgers, which, like so many of the rest of us, celebrated Fitzpatrick’s newfound hero status with her children.
“We knew that follow-through looked familiar,” the team wrote on social media. “Ms. Fitz was a Scarlet Knight!”
“I just launched it, and it went in,” Fitzpatrick said during an interview Thursday on ESPN’s SportsCenter. She jokingly called the shot one of the most terrifying of her career.
“Because 8- and 9-year-olds will never let it down,” she said. “It was just the excitement, the cheering, I have to make this.”
In the video, Fitzpatrick’s students chanted, “Make it, make it,” after a boy dressed in a reindeer costume brought her the ball. As it swished in, the children screamed and jumped up and down. Fitzpatrick pumped her arms in victory.
On Instagram, Holy Trinity said it was overwhelmed by the outpouring the video had garnered.
The school said it felt “blessed that Ms. Fitz gave us permission to share this video, which has brought a smile to so many people all over the world.”
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Riley Yates may be reached at ryates@njadvancemedia.com.