Alex Dumoulin, women’s basketball senior forward, remembers Feb. 5, 2014, quite well.

It’s not because the Huskies nearly pulled off an upset against the Akron Zips, losing 71-67. It’s not because of her performance on the court; she went scoreless on 0-1 shooting, grabbed one rebound and turned the ball over once in four minutes.

In her two years at NIU, Feb. 5, 2014, stands out to Dumoulin because it was the day her grandpa, Bill Dumoulin, died.

She said her grandpa always came to her home games and would sit in his wheelchair up on the track above the lower bowl of seats at the Convocation Center.

“It was quite tough to play, to be honest with you,” Dumoulin said. “I mean, he played a big role in my life. I grew up with him ever since I was a little kid.

“I can’t tell you all the support I got from my teammates and my coaching staff. Just the fact that I had their support and their understanding was tremendous. It will never be forgotten.”

Cassie Dumoulin, Alex’s sister and a former women’s basketball player with the Illinois Fighting Illini, said she talked with Alex that day and they concluded their grandpa would have wanted Alex to suit up for the game.

“I know Alex and him were really, really close,” Cassie Dumoulin said. “She just played, and he was definitely a supporter. He made sacrifices to come to Alex’s games. She definitely plays basketball in memory of him, but more importantly she lives her life to kind of honor him and hopefully follow him as a role model.”

* * *

Basketball runs in the Dumoulins’ blood. It’s a game Alex Dumoulin began playing while growing up on her grandparents’ farm in Hampshire.

There was never a shortage of players for pick-up games. Alex Dumoulin, the second oldest of 10 kids, is one of 27 people who call the family farmhouse home.

“As my grandma says: ‘We raise pigs, corn, soybeans and kids,’” Dumoulin said.

Bill Dumoulin and his wife had three kids: Mike, Mary and Pat, Alex’s dad. Dumoulin said her Uncle Mike has seven kids, her Aunt Mary has three kids and her dad has 10 kids, the oldest being 23 and the youngest 7.

The family compound consists of the original farmhouse, a 60-by-60-foot “play room” and Alex Dumoulin’s family’s living space, which is past the play area.

The “play room,” located inside of a Morton shed, serves as an area for family gatherings and includes two basketball hoops.

“On weekends when we were younger we would always play family against family and just have little competitions after lunch,” Dumoulin said. “The fact that we do it together [is] always fun. Yeah, of course some calls aren’t going to go our way, but we’re always going to have a good time. And it’s just a fun family atmosphere.”

* * *

Before playing basketball at NIU, Dumoulin played at Hampshire High School and then spent two years playing at Elgin Community College.

She said that’s the tradition for the girls, at least.

“What’s really neat is — that since we’re so close in age with my cousins and my siblings — just the fact that I get to play with most of them,” Dumoulin said.

At Elgin Community College she said she got to play with her sister and her cousin one year and then her sister the other year. In high school there was the potential for five Dumoulins to be on the court at once.

“It’s just quite unreal, and not many people get that opportunity,” Dumoulin said.

The next phase of the family tradition is for the kids to head down to the University of Illinois to get their degree.

“I was sort of the oddball and came here to Northern,” Dumoulin said.

Dumoulin was recruited by Kathi Bennett, who was in her third year at NIU at the time. Bennett said she loved Dumoulin the player but also liked what she saw from Dumoulin the person.

“The No. 1 thing is her character,” Bennett said. “I think she’s one of the highest quality players I’ve ever recruited. I think her energy is unstoppable. She’s one of the most positive people that I’ve ever been around. I’ve never seen Alex have a bad day.”

Dumoulin’s decision to come to NIU was two-fold: first, she was able to stay close to home and her family; second, she was able to continue playing basketball. Cassie Dumoulin said her sister’s decision to not attend the University of Illinois was a little bit of a surprise — but, at the same time, it wasn’t.

“That’s Alex for you: She will blaze her own path,” Cassie Dumoulin said. “Whatever she does she always puts her full effort in it.”

* * *

Family, whether it’s her basketball or biological family, is important to Dumoulin. Choosing to play basketball at NIU meant she would be able to see her family on a regular basis and they would be able to see her play at NIU.

Dumoulin said out of the 20 kids living on the farm 11 of them currently play basketball. The family uses a divide-and-conquer approach in choosing what games to attend, although they tend to make most of her weekend home games.

“It’s tremendous because not many people get the opportunity to have their family come to almost every home game,” Dumoulin said. “It’s pretty special.”

One of the people who Dumoulin said always came to her home games was her grandpa Bill, even as he had been fighting with lymphoma cancer for about five years before his death. When she was at community college she would go and visit him as he made trips in and out of the hospital.

“I’d come back home and go up to the hospital to see him every evening,” Dumoulin said. “It was just really hard because he never quit on us. There was a couple close calls, and I swear he was just fighting for us and always wanted to know how we were doing.

“Even though he was extremely sick and in a lot of pain it never occurred to him to be selfish; it was always ‘How’s the family doing?,’ ‘What’s going on with the farm?’ It was just something that I hope to learn from and be that kind of person.”

Cassie Dumoulin said the relationship she saw between her sister and their grandpa was a tight-knit one and unique within their family.

“I know that he impacted Alex to be the best person and player that she can be,” Cassie Dumoulin said. “She leads by example, and her leadership qualities are second to none. Even as me being the older sister she definitely is an example to me and pushes me to do my best. That’s what Alex does: She brings the best out of people. She has an uncanny gift to make a difference in people’s lives and have a connection.”

* * *

For Alex Dumoulin there are two intertwined things she learned from her grandpa that she tries to bring out on the basketball court: one is family comes first, and the other is to live life as a stage to set an example for others.

Dumoulin likes to include everyone in everything because a basketball team is a second family to her. One of the things that stood out to her teammates and coaches was at the start of 2015 when she started providing them with one to three motivational stories per week, which she prints out for her teammates, who keep them in a binder.

“It’s just something for them to read, to think a little bit how we can be portrayed as student-athletes because a lot of people look at us as role models,” Dumoulin said. “It’s just important to make sure we have our mentality set that we’re going to be out here working hard always and being the best we can be.”

Senior guard Amanda Corral said the stories came as a surprise, but if there was one person to take the time to do something like that she said it would have to be Dumoulin.

“Alex is definitely a one-of-a-kind person,” Corral said. “Alex is that type of person to do really thoughtful things. Those are just like messages she wants to send to the team and to everyone, not just about basketball, just about like life and things that she believes strongly in. She just tries to give us up-lifters every day.”

* * *

Dumoulin knows what it means to be part of a team. Growing up on a farm meant working as a unit to do whatever needed to be done. That work ethic is something that was instilled in her from an early age as chores in the Dumoulin household started at 6 a.m.

“Whether you have school or not — even if you have school and your bus comes later — you’d always go out and do chores,” Dumoulin said. “And then you get showered up and head to school and come home and do afternoon chores. On weekends, if things break down or if you don’t have a lot of homework and stuff you’re outside helping out.”

Dumoulin’s chores included feeding the sows — mom pigs — and making sure their living spaces were adequate throughout the day. She also drove tractors and other machinery.

Playing a designated role and helping others is something that translated to the basketball court for Dumoulin.

“I just think that if you can change the life of one person then you’re golden,” she said. “And whether that means being a cheerleader on the sidelines or spending extra time in the gym with someone, it just means that you’re giving yourself to help others and being a servant.”

Dumoulin’s positive words and uplifting claps on the sidelines at practice and on the bench during games don’t go unnoticed by her teammates.

“She has a huge heart,” Corral said. “She’s really caring. She’s very optimistic in every situation. Regardless of if it’s bad or good she always looks for the good in every situation.

“She does whatever she can on the basketball court to give us energy. She’s a great leader, a great vocal leader; that’s something that we haven’t always had. I think having her with us has helped us in that category a lot.”

* * *

Just more than one year after her grandpa’s death, Dumoulin is preparing to wrap up her career at NIU. Her time in cardinal and back is nearing its close as the Huskies have three regular season games remaining before the single-elimination MAC Tournament. She’ll graduate in December with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Dumoulin played in 21 games off the bench last season and was primed for a bigger role this year when forwards Natecia Augusta and Jazmine Harris were ruled out for the season with injuries before the Huskies played their first game. But, she fractured her left foot before Thanksgiving and was sidelined in a walking boot for four weeks.

Dumoulin has played in 15 games this season and made her first career start Feb. 21 on Senior Night. She scored two points and grabbed three rebounds in 14 minutes of action as the Huskies lost 51-50. While she averages only 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.6 minutes per game, she handles her playing time just like every other situation in her life.

“You have two choices you can make in life: whether you’re going to be happy all the time or you’re going to be negative,” Dumoulin said. “And I choose the route to be happy. That just means encouraging others, and when my time does come I just like to take advantage of it and be the best I can be. First and foremost, I am here for the team, and whatever the teams needs I will do.”