How Ohio State volleyball player Sarah Sue Morbitzer used NIL to share her story
Sarah Sue Morbitzer never wanted to hide what made her different.
After being born with tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect, Morbitzer was forced into open-heart surgery at 4 months old, giving her an eight-inch scar across her chest she affectionately calls her “heart zipper.”
A second surgery came when she was a freshman volleyball player at Ohio State. But unlike traditional open-heart surgery, Morbitzer was “patient 80” in a clinical trial in which a transcatheter valve was inserted into her heart to allow for normal blood flow throughout her body, a valve she also named.
“Everyone in my life knows who Valerie is,” Morbitzer said.
“Valerie” allowed Morbitzer the fast track back to the volleyball court, playing in the first game of her sophomore season in January 2021, 36 days after the procedure, and for full seasons in 2022 and 2023 as the team’s libero.
On Tuesday, Morbitzer will release her children’s book “Sarah Scarbuck’s Heart Zipper: A Story of a Heart Surgery Scar” through Mascot Books not only as a new way to share her story, but as a tangible example of how name, image and likeness grew her platform to tell it.
“There is a space for everybody in NIL,” Morbitzer said. “And mine’s not getting cars or big brand endorsements, but mine’s a little different.
“I’ve really enjoyed the process of finding that why.”
'A badge of honor'
Morbitzer said that from childhood she always knew what her scar was. Her parents told her it was “a badge of honor,” something to show off and be proud of.
“They always instilled that my scar was a superhero aspect of me,” Morbitzer said.
Carole Morbitzer said she and her husband, Mike, approached Sarah’s childhood as normal as possible despite her heart condition. Sarah gravitated toward volleyball, attending practices and games with her mother, a coach, while her brother and father fished.
Sarah Sue Morbitzer’s love for volleyball turned to production. She joined her first club team at age 8 and grew into a four-year letter-winner and three-time captain at Hamilton Township High School. She was a walk-on at Ohio State in 2020, fulfilling a lifelong dream to become a Buckeye.
Morbitzer also realized her life path was not solely about volleyball.
Morbitzer said her cardiologist always made it a goal that she would be able to explain her condition to anyone and everyone, that she would be able to tell people what she went through.
Carole Morbitzer said this path came to fruition when Sarah was in middle school and said she wanted to become a pediatric cardiologist.
“We teared up right away because it was in that moment that she said, ‘I can relate to my patients,’ ” Carole said.
Sarah Sue Morbitzer finds her 'why'
“What is my why?”
When NIL was introduced, Morbitzer said Ohio State’s main message to its athletes was to find a brand that differentiates you, to find something you care about can benefit the community.
Morbitzer’s “why” was clear. The question was how it could come together.
“I realized my brand might be outside of volleyball,” Morbitzer said. “Of course I love volleyball, but I think there’s a different part of me that I would want to share with people.”
At an NIL summit in Atlanta, Morbitzer first pitched her idea for a children’s book to a West Coast-based agency. Momentum soon dwindled, and Morbitzer was forced into a process of finding a publisher that allowed her to take the lead.
“It was kind of trial and error in standing up for what I wanted this book to be and not what someone else wanted it to be,” Morbitzer said.
In a book that includes her friend Riley and her brother Anthony, Morbitzer was also granted one-time permission to use both Ohio State and Brutus Buckeye.
Before NIL was established in June 2021, an athlete such as Morbitzer would not have been able to work with companies like publishers to create and sell a children's book.
From afar, Carole Morbitzer said she watched Sarah “put the work in” in the NIL world, reaching out to publishers, telling her story.
Throughout the process, Carole said she made sure Sarah knew how important her story was to patients and parents.
“It’s not just important for the child to see you. It’s for the parents to see you,” Carole said. “We didn’t have a you to look at. We didn’t have a Sarah Sue to look at.”
How Sarah Sue Morbitzer plans to use her children's book
Morbitzer knows exactly how she wants her book to be used.
When she becomes a pediatric cardiologist, she plans to go into a patient’s room before surgery and show them the book, to show them her scar and the life she’s lived.
“You’re going to come out of this and you’re going to be OK,’” she said.
After the 2023 volleyball season, Morbitzer was ready to set that path into motion. She is using the 2024-25 school year as a gap year, filling her schedule with internship and patient hours to prepare for medical school.
Through Sarah’s story, Carole sees someone who has completely embraced her “why” and used her platform to calm any fears for children and parents going through something similar.
“This is what NIL was made for,” Carole said.
To Sarah Sue, NIL was another avenue to share her story, not to hide what made her different.
It was made to introduce everyone to “Valerie.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State Volleyball's Sarah Sue Morbitzer uses NIL to share story
