St. Charles East alum Kull shines in center stage
It's no surprise Morgan Kull earned a scholarship to set for the Auburn volleyball team considering her mother Jennie is a Hall of Fame volleyball coach at St. Charles East High School.
Turns out her dad Jim Kull, the Saints' band director, had quite an influence on their daughter as well.
Anyone who tuned into the Final Four Saturday in Minneapolis saw Morgan Kull joined by student-athletes from Texas Tech, Virginia and Michigan State singing the national anthem in front of 70,000 people at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis and a national television audience on CBS.
Jennie Kull joked that she can't sing at all but it certainly wasn't true for her daughter who pulled off a stellar rendition with her fellow student-athletes. Auburn's last-second loss to Virginia couldn't dampen Morgan Kull's once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"After we lost the game and obviously devastating, people walking on the street, Auburn fans, people were like, 'Were you on the one who sang the national anthem? That was beautiful,'" Kull said. "It was kind of crazy, you are focusing on me? I was still mad about the game. People were so supportive. That's how the Auburn family is. It's really true.
"I was on the plane with all the athletes and boosters coming back and people were so nice to me. And having support back from the hometown is nice, people have been reaching out to me from high school and coaches and teachers and it's been really cool. I don't deserve any of this but it has been really nice and I appreciate it and it did help a lot when I was up there because I was like you've got everybody behind you."
Ironically, Morgan Kull said she wasn't nervous singing in front of all those people. But when her assistant volleyball coach at Auburn asked her to send in an audition tape to the NCAA to possibly sing if the basketball team reached the Final Four?
Kull went to her car to record it because she didn't want her roommates to hear her.
"I'm weird with singing in front of small groups but I don't really mind singing in front of 72,000 people, that's nothing," Kull laughed. "Everyone was asking if I was nervous. Not really, especially because there were other athletes with me it was a lot easier. If I had to do it alone I'd more nervous."
Kull said she started singing in her church choir in St. Charles growing up. She also sang in the choir in middle school and high school and took two years of voice lessons her last two years of high school.
After Auburn beat Kentucky to reach the Final Four, Kull was celebrating in traditional Tigers style by rolling Toomer's Corner, throwing toilet paper on trees in downtown Auburn. That's when she got a text from her assistant volleyball coach.
"She said that I was the only one who sent in a video, looks like you are singing at the Final Four," Kull said.
Kull said she loses her voice easily at volleyball practice so she tried especially hard not to yell last week leading up to the Final Four. She arrived in Minneapolis on Friday and met the other three student-athletes who would be joining her.
The four practiced from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and then went to the stadium to practice at 5:30 p.m. The student-athlete from Texas A&M, hurdler Dorian Williams Jr., played guitar which led to a different version of the anthem.
Soccer player Zach Kovan from Michigan State and volleyball player Milla Ciprian from Virginia joined Kull singing while Williams played the guitar.
"The guy leading us sent a video of a 1960s version more folky kind of thing because of a guitar player," Kull said. "It was random but we were all excited because we made it up as we went along (in rehearsals). It was a short turnaround. The other athletes were great and we had all done music in the past."
Kull said they were happy with how the song turned out. After singing she watched the game from the first row next to the Auburn band.
The only downer of the night came when Virginia's Kyle Guy made 3 free throws with .6 seconds left to beat Auburn, 63-62.
"Very sad game. I thought we had won. It was hard to see through the photographers. The last four minutes I was standing up the whole time. It (the ending) was so upsetting," Kull said of the game's outcome but certainly not the experience.
"Everyone has been so happy and supportive throughout the whole week. Everyone has been super nice and supportive. It's been so cool."