National Spelling Bee champ thanks Charleston celeb Bill Murray after historic win
Before she made history, Zaila Avant-garde made them laugh.
Standing on-stage at the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night, as people around the nation watched on ESPN-2’s telecast, the 14-year-old listened as the bee’s official pronouncer asked her to spell what would become her winning word.
Murraya.
A word she always associated with Bill Murray, Charleston’s most famous celebrity.
The botanical word, which refers to a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with overlapping petals, initially made her grimace.
She repeated the word. Then, with the timing of the “Saturday Night Live” legend himself, Zaila asked the judges a question.
“Does this word contain, like, the English word ‘Murray,’ which would be the name of a comedian?” Zaila asked, smiling as she referenced Murray.
“Bill Murray made the spelling bee!” a TV announcer said during the broadcast, as judges chuckled at her sharp joke. “That tells you she’s on the right track, though.”
Zaila then began to spell the word, stopped herself, and asked for the language of origin for the word. Now sure of herself, she began to spell again.
When she won, she smiled and twirled her way into the history books, becoming the first African American winner of the bee.
The truth is, Zaila won it all on her own.
The teenager from Harvey, Louisiana, told Good Morning America that she studied 13,000 words a day to prepare for the competition, which this year was held in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
She told CNN’s “New Day” that the moment she won felt like she had “snapped out of a surreal dream.”
But during an interview with NPR, the history-maker would thank Charleston’s most famous celebrity.
“I’d like to say thank you to Bill Murray because the reason I knew that word ‘murraya’ was because of the movie ‘Lost in Translation,’” she said. “When I was a little kid, I used to listen to the soundtrack, and so that’s how that word was stuck in my head because it was spelled like Bill Murray’s name.”
The comedy icon and actor is best known for his roles in classic movies like “Groundhog Day,” “Caddyshack” and “Ghostbusters.” Murray, now 70, was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Lost in Translation.”
Murray, who owns a home on Sullivan’s Island, is also one of Charleston’s most recognizable celebrities.
Murray is such a fixture in the Holy City that locals jokingly say that you’re not really a Charleston resident, officially, until you have your first Murray sighting.
He is also the co-owner and “director of fun” for the RiverDogs, Charleston’s minor league baseball team, and a part-owner of two popular restaurants: Rutledge Cab Company and Harold’s Cabin.
It’s unclear what Murray thinks about his unscripted mention during the bee (he has no social media account), but Zaila hopes her winning moment partly inspired by Murray will inspire others.
“It makes me feel really proud. I’m really hoping lots of little brown girls all over the world are really motivated to try out spelling,” she told NPR.
In addition to being a star speller, Zaila holds three Guinness world records for her basketball dribbling skills.
She told CNN she hopes to one day play basketball at Harvard. After that, she said, she has her future narrowed down to four options: An NBA basketball coach, working for NASA, treating disease, or maybe exploring something in gene editing.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 2:35 PM.
