SPOKANE, Wash. — A few weeks ago, six-year-old Kinsley Murray sang the national anthem at Gonzaga’s women’s basketball game against Idaho State.
She’s done that hundreds of times before at other sporting events, but what happened afterwards was a first.
"Yes, the biggest, hugest, biggest roar I’ve ever heard for the national anthem," said Kinsley, reflecting on how crazy the crowd went for her.
Kinsley not only brought the house down in The Kennel but she also caught the eye of nearly one million people on TikTok.
As of this piece, 912,000 people have viewed the video of her performance.
"I feel so amazing because I love seeing all the comments. One person loved my gloves, and they like my growls, and they like my frees," said Kinsley, as she imitated her singing.
This wasn’t Kinsley’s first rodeo at the national anthem. In fact, she’s sung at rodeos before — and all over the Pacific Northwest at baseball, football, and basketball games.
"My favorite thing about singing the national anthem is I want to hear that big roar, and I love to honor our country. The louder they roar, the better I get," Kinsley said emphatically.
There is one downside, though, to all of the attention.
"People keep coming up to me and saying, 'You did a great job,' and I say, 'Thank you very much!' But it’s actually really hard to watch the game and actually sit down because people keep coming up to me and saying you did a great job and keep asking me for autographs, which I like to do, and I’m getting pretty good at it!" Kinsley said.
Kinsley’s biggest dream for her national anthem performances happens to reside in the same building as her viral performance.
"My dream since I was three was to sing at the boys Gonzaga basketball game because people would go crazy. I bet they would roar really loud for me and jump around and be super crazy," Kinsley said.
So that begs the question: What would it mean to her to sing at a Gonzaga men’s basketball game?
"I would feel super duper duper wuper happy!" Kinsley said with a huge smile.