At six feet two inches, Adut Bulgak commands respect when she steps onto the court.
In the gym of her old high school, Archbishop O’Leary in north-central Edmonton, the lanky player with a smooth release is working up a sweat, draining three-point shots with deadly precision.
But it wasn’t always like this for the South Sudanese refugee, who was selected by the WNBA’s New York Liberty in 2016 as a first-round draft pick.
And she is the first one to admit it.
“Kutney used to make fun of me,” said Bulgak, grinning as she talked about her former high school coach Ron Kutney who used to tease her about her challenges with co-ordination.
“He used to say I couldn’t walk, talk and chew gum at the same time,” she added.
Kutney gets credit for helping develop her skills, teaching her to become a student of the game and making her the player she is today — in spite of a strict Sudanese upbringing that almost took her away from it.
“It’s extremely, extremely rare for a female Sudanese to be an athlete,” Bulgak said.
Her mom wanted Bulgak to focus on her academics and her responsibilities at home instead of playing basketball.
Indeed, in Grade 11, Bulgak was skipping classes and her grades were starting to suffer. Another member of the team, assistant coach Kayla Smart, was instrumental in helping her get back on track, Bulgak said.
“My mom used to come and talk to coach Smart and tell her, ‘No! She has to be home cooking and cleaning!’ and so I’m really glad that Kayla had my back and told her to allow me to continue playing the game,” she said.
Basketball became an escape for Bulgak in 2007, when her oldest brother, Deng Atem Bulgak, was murdered in the family’s backyard, and again two years later when another brother was killed in a car crash.
Losing herself in the sport helped Bulgak keep on track.
“I used it [basketball] as a coping mechanism and that really distracted me from the tragedies,” she said.
Her talent helped her secure a full scholarship down south, spending two years at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas. While there, Bulgak was named the NJCAA Division player of the year.
Then came a transfer to Florida State University, where her game kept getting better. She won numerous accolades and became one of just three players to earn All-America status multiple times.
More importantly for her mom, she graduated with a degree in sociology and criminology.
“It was so important for my mom — coming as refugees — to get that education,” said Bulgak. “I was the first one to graduate from university in my family out of the kids. That just gave her a lot of hope.”
In 2016, Bulgak was drafted 12th overall by the New York Liberty. She played with them for one season then joined the Chicago Sky in 2017.
Now she’s pursuing her dream in the Middle East with Ramat Chen, a professional team in Israel.
Despite all of her success, Bulgak remains humble and grounded. She returns to Edmonton to be with her family every off-season.
She also takes time to talk to younger players about their focus on the game — and the importance of education.
“Don’t get distracted is the main message,” Bulgak told a group of young men after a practice session. “If you have a goal, don’t let outside forces distract you.”
It’s a message that isn’t lost on O’Leary star basketball player Innocent Pebalo. He is heading into Grade 12 this fall with hopes of securing a post-secondary scholarship.
Bulgak’s name is well known in his family. He said his sister has a signed Bulgak jersey hanging on her wall.
“It’s mind-blowing because not many Sudanese girls get to the level she’s at,” said Pebalo, who is also from South Sudan.
“It motivates me to be like her because she’s somewhere that I want to be, too,” he said..
Having someone like Bulgak come back to the school is invaluable.
“The academic part of it is huge,” said Josh McJannet, the men’s senior basketball coach at Archbishop O’Leary.
“She definitely got that message.”
McJannet continually reminds students how lucky they are to have a former student come back to mentor them.
“When I talked to the boys before we brought them down, I said, ‘O’Leary royalty is in the house. The Queen of O’Leary is here!’”
He said the message of academics over sports holds more weight when it comes from someone like Bulgak, who he calls the “one per cent of the one per cent.”
“It’s about so much more than the 90 feet on the basketball court,” he said.
“It’s everything else — whether it be family, whether it be academics, whether it’s all the support you have from the community. Like that’s all part of it and that’s a message Adut gives every time she comes back,” said McJannet.
“We’re trying to foster that idea of ‘student athlete,’ because at the end of the day all of us at some point in our life are no longer going to be an athlete,” he said.
Bulgak is already thinking about the next phase.
She wants to return to the WNBA, possibly Toronto, where there’s talk of a new expansion team coming north of the border.
“I’m going to try and play at home, if the opportunity is there. That’s my number one.”
