Zach Wells might have to give up the number “1” on
the back of his UCLA soccer jersey.
Now President Bush has one, too.
The NCAA Division I champion men’s soccer team met the
president in the White House yesterday, along with three other
national champions: the Ohio State football team, the USC
women’s volleyball team and the Portland women’s soccer
team.
Junior defender Tony Lawson, the team’s captain, handed
the president a specially embroidered UCLA soccer jersey with BUSH
and the number 1 across the back.
“I said if he wants to come hang out, he’s got a
place to stay. He said it might be a little hot in Los Angeles, and
I said I’d buy him a snow cone,” Lawson said of his
encounter with the president.
After shaking hands with “the most powerful man in our
country,” Wells was more in awe than he was worried about
losing his jersey number to the president.
UCLA’s top goaltender was also pleased to earn bragging
rights over friends in Washington, D.C., who have never been to the
White House.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Wells said.
“It’s amazing when you associate the president with all
the images on the TV screen, then to shake his hand and interact
with him … I didn’t think I was going to get
that.”
The team spent Sunday sightseeing in Washington before they
visited the White House yesterday morning and left that
afternoon.
Head coach Tom Fitzgerald, who coached Major League
Soccer’s Columbus Crew for five years before coming to UCLA,
was able to meet with old acquaintances on the Ohio State football
team.
He also discussed the State of the Union with the president.
“(Bush) said, “˜Trust us, we’re doing the right
thing for the country. Everything’s going to come out
great,'” Fitzgerald said.