JD Vance fumbles Ohio State’s NCAA football championship trophy as Buckeyes visit the White House

Ohio State University football player TreVeyon Henderson, left, holds the top of the team's championship trophy as Vice President JD Vance reaches to catch it's base after it fell off, as President Donald Trump welcomes the 2025 College Football National Champions during an event on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, April 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance ended the Ohio State football team’s visit to the White House on Monday by fumbling the team’s national championship trophy.

After laudatory speeches by President Donald Trump, Buckeye coach Ryan Day and Vance on the South Lawn, the vice-president — an Ohio State graduate — tried to hoist aloft the trophy.

He didn’t count on the trophy’s golden top being designed to separate from its black base. After some struggling, the vice-president lost his grip on the two pieces. OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson, standing behind Vance, grabbed the football-shaped top of the trophy. But the base fell to the ground, forcing Vance to grasp around as it rolled a short distance.

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.‘”

Will Weissert, The Associated Press