Opp. spot | Conflicting allegiance

This weekend is Penn’s Family Weekend, so it shouldn’t be that strange to see a number of married Penn alumni around campus, surveying the grounds that their child now inhabits.

And Saturday at Franklin Field, you can be sure that the stands will be full of these same parents cheering on the Quakers as they take on Yale.

One notable pair of Penn alumni — Edward and Auretha Baldwin — will be on campus, but not because of Family Weekend. In fact, they’ll be rooting for the Bulldogs and their son Drew, one of Yale’s starting cornerbacks.

Edward Baldwin was a cornerback for the Penn sprint football team from 1980-82, but it is Auretha who reached legendary status as a Penn athlete. A standout for the women’s basketball team, Auretha Fleming put together a career that earned her admission into the Penn Athletics and Big 5 Halls of Fame.

But despite his parents’ connection to Penn, Drew knows they’ll still be supporting him come Saturday.

“There’s a little bit of teasing and trash talking, but that comes with the territory,” he said. “My dad actually texted me to say he’ll still be rooting for me.”

Drew is putting up an impressive career for himself at Yale. As a freshman, he appeared in all ten games as a reserve cornerback and special teamer, totalling three tackles and earning the Charles Loftus Award as the Bulldogs’ top freshman.

This year, he stepped into a starting role and has thrived. His two interceptions are tied for tops on the team, and he has notched 17 tackles, including a team-high six against Lehigh last week.

His success shouldn’t be a surprise considering he comes from a particularly athletic family. Apart from his parents’ histories, his brother Edward III is a long jumper and sprinter for the University of North Carolina. And with a family full of athletes, sports were always something they could share.

“A lot of times we would just go out, myself, my brother and my parents, and just go to a basketball court and shoot around or go do something as a family,” Drew said. “It really brought us together. It was something we could all rally around; it really made us strong as a family.”

He grew up playing a number of sports, but eventually settled on football and basketball — his parents’ specialties — before dropping hoops early in his high school career. But when the time came to look at colleges, mom and dad’s alma mater was nowhere on his radar.

“I knew a good amount about Penn because not only were my parents Penn grads, but also I have uncles, aunts who went there and also my grandparents went there,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in going there because I wanted to forge my own path.”

For the time being, Drew views Penn as just another opponent and Franklin Field as just another battleground.

It doesn’t matter to him that his mom retired with Penn career records in scoring, rebounding and steals, that her picture is on display in the nearby Palestra, or that she was honored as a Big 5 Hall of Famer in 1991. All that matters to Drew is the on-field game.

“I don’t look at opponents like that. I let that stuff handle itself, I just deal with things that I need to deal with, things I can control,” Drew said. “Afterwards is the time when I think, ‘Oh maybe that was special.’”

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.