By Harry Minium
It was August of 2016 and Holly Hutchinson was on Old Dominion University's campus for the first time, fresh off a plane from her native England, when she nearly got ploughed over by a golf cart.
It was her fault. She was taking in the sights, not paying attention to where she was walking, and saw the cart out of the corner of her eye just in time to step back.
The golf cart was being driven by ODU President John R. Broderick, she was told.
"On my gosh, I was so embarrassed," she said. "I hope he doesn't remember that."
Not to worry. He did not, at least until I recently told him.
Thankfully, he got to know Hutchinson away from golf carts for much more positive reasons. Hutchinson is a star on the women's tennis team, and among the very best of ODU's 450 athletes.
She's also been a force off the court. A feminist strong believer in equal rights and social justice, she has thrown herself into student activities and worked hard to create positive change at ODU. She serves on ODU's athletic racial equity task force, has been a senator in the Student Government Association, where she was named Senator of the Year in 2020; has served the student government on the student life committee and has served for years on ODU's Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Somehow, she managed to earn a bachelor's degree last spring and graduates with a master's degree this spring.
Hutchinson and fellow senior tennis player Brooke Pilkington have developed close relationships with President Broderick and First Lady Kate Broderick, which helps explain why he took some time out of his busy schedule recently to meet with the tennis team.
"I have so much respect for what Brooke and Holly have accomplished," President Broderick said.
"I wanted to applaud them for what a great season they've had and how terrific they've done academically. What they've done is a remarkable reflection on them as student athletes and as people."
Academically, they're both super stars, Holly carries a 3.95 GPA and Brooke is close behind at 3.76. A transfer from the University of Delaware, Brooke will graduate with a master's degree this summer.
Holly Hutchinson and Brooke Pilkington, center, on senior day
Overall, the team logged a 3.61 GPA for the fall semester, said academic counselor Amy Lynch. That means for every "B" grade a typical player received, she also received four "A" grades.
Athletically, the women's tennis team has arguably been among ODU's best since they've been playing.
Together, Hutchinson and Pilkington have helped ODU defeat Virginia, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Tennessee, LSU, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Duke. A second victory over Wake Forest recently, a 4-1 shellacking in Winston-Salem, moved ODU up to 36th in the ITA national rankings.
Rice and Central Florida are the only mid major programs ranked ahead of ODU, which appears likely to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
That assumes that ODU doesn't win the Conference USA tournament in Houston on April 22-25.
"The last thing on the checklist is a (Conference USA championship) ring," Hutchinson said. "I've done everything else I wanted to do. I really want that ring."
She indeed has done just about everything else she could have. She was the C-USA Player of the Year in 2020, first-team all-conference in singles in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and has been conference player of the week 10 times.
She has 98 dual-match victories, including a 7-5, 6-3 upset of No. 2 ranked Cameron Morra of North Carolina in 2019.
Brooke hails from Virginia Beach, where she starred at Cape Henry Collegiate and was arguably the most decorated player ever to come out of the 757. She began playing at age 5 at ODU's Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center, where she hit her first ball and trained with her father, George, former ODU coach Darryl Cummings and Monarch coach Dom Manilla.
However, she decided to play at Delaware, where she was the Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year. She transferred to ODU in 2018 to play at a higher level and has starred in singles and with Hutchinson at doubles. Pilkington was named the Conference USA Newcomer of the Year after the 2018-19 season.
Incredibly, she never lost a match at home, at Delaware or ODU.
ODU has gone 68-26 in matches since Holly came to ODU and is 37-12 with Brooke.
Brooke Pilkington
President Broderick said both deserve a ton of praise, but so does Manilla.
When he met with the tennis team, he told them "what a remarkable job" Manilla has done.
"He's been a terrific advocate for them, not only in terms of what they're doing on the court, but also with their majors and opportunities to get degrees."
Holly and Brooke have their after-school careers mapped out. Brooke's master's degree is in physical education and wants to teach and coach.
"I want to coach tennis and stay in the area," she said. "I'm so glad I came back here to go to school.
"It's really been interesting. I've learned so much and have so many great memories."
Holly plans to go pro, and Manilla says she can succeed. However, she's torn between going home to England or staying in the United States.
"It would be easier for me to go home, but I really love this place," she said. "I love America as a country. I'm back and forth every day about where to go. At the end of the day, I want to make sure I go where I have the best chance to succeed."
She grew emotional toward the end of our interview when talking about her parents, Ian and Louise Hutchinson. Because of the pandemic, she hasn't seen them in a year and four months. Although she was masked while we spoke, it was obvious when her eyes grew red the moist. She hasn't seen her sister, Scarlett, a tennis player at Fairfield University, either, in nearly a year and a half.
"That's been the hardest thing about the pandemic," she said. "I'm really close with my family. I'm so lucky that I have such a good relationship with them."
At Senior Day, which was closed to fans, as all ODU matches were this year, her family watched via FaceTime.
Holly Hutchinson
"A friend did that for me," she said. "I'm so grateful that there are so many good people around here who have been good to me."
Holly eventually wants to become a broadcast journalist in America and is consulting with President Broderick, a former newspaper reporter who headed ODU's office of strategic communications before he became president.
She asked me if I thought her accent would be a negative. Absolutely not, I replied. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once described the United States and the United Kingdom as two countries "separated by a common language," meaning we often quite understand each other.
But don't all Americans love English accents?
"I definitely need to work on the rules of baseball and football," she said. Not so much for soccer or cricket – her Dad was a cricket player.
"President Broderick said he will help me when the time comes," Holly said. "He's always been there when I really needed help."
When he spoke to the team, President Broderick praised the international students who hail from Belarus, the Ukraine, Israel and Sweden. Brooke is the team's only American.
"I have great and deep admiration for the people who can come into a country, and in many instances, not know anybody and not know about the area they are coming to and yet excel," he said.
"I don't know if I would have had the courage at their age to go to one of their counties and not know the language."
Asked why he took time out to recognize the tennis team, he gave a simple answer.
"This team is an example of why people like me believe there's an upside going forward for collegiate sports," he said.
"These young people really do recognize what the model is all about.
"Most presidents probably know the football and basketball student-athletes, and so do we. But from day one, Kate and I wanted all our students to know we thought they were special. (Men's soccer coach) Alan Dawson can tell you how many of his players stay in touch.
"(Women's soccer coach) Angie Hind can explain how many of hers I wrote grad school letters for."
Holly and Brooke noted that they are leaving ODU at the same time as President Broderick, who is retiring after 13 years as President and 27 overall with the University.
"It feels like I've been here forever and yet it's only been 10 seconds," Holly said. "I love this place, the tennis program and the school.
"We could not ask for more from a president than President Broderick has given to ODU athletics. He comes to our matches, something presidents don't often do. You see him and Kate Broderick at so many athletic events.
"I'm grateful for everything he's done for me, for our athletic program and our university."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: President John R. Broderick Has a Special Bond with ODU Women's Tennis Team
