Patrick Mohorcic with former University of Georgia football head coach Vince Dooley. Photo courtesy of Athletes for a Better World.

Athletes for a Better World Release

The College of Wooster's Patrick Mohorcic was in Atlanta, Ga. this past week, and the senior was honored at the 2018 Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup banquet on Wednesday evening at the Cobb Galleria Centre. Mohorcic was one of four finalists in the collegiate division for the Wooden Cup. University of Pennsylvania senior fencer Ashley Marcus was selected as this year's recipient.

"This was an incredible experience with meeting so many deserving athletes," said Mohorcic. "It wasn't the outcome we hoped for, but the true winners are the people we have helped along the way."

"Patrick's received many incredible accolades, and we're honored that the selection committee held Patrick's character, teamwork, and most importantly, citizenship in as high regard as we do," said head coach Frank Colaprete. "The Wooden Cup is a very special award that few are able to receive, and it's a great honor that Patrick was chosen as one of the four finalists."

The Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup is presented annually to one professional athlete, one collegiate student-athlete, and the one male and one female National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association national scholar winners. The collegiate recipient is chosen based on character, teamwork, and citizenship, all characteristics displayed by revered basketball head coach John Wooden, for whom the award is named. Wooden's legacy as a person of integrity, high moral character, compassion, and civic-mindedness are as synonymous as his on-court legacy, and to this day, he's one of the most admired coaches in the history of sport.

Mohorcic's had quite a senior year in terms of accomplishments. In addition to being selected as a finalist for the Wooden Cup, the Fighting Scots' starting center won the fan vote that determined the captain of the 2017 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team®. That enabled Mohorcic to travel to Atlanta in December, and he was interviewed live on ESPN as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show. Mohorcic joined the other members of the Good Works Team® in New Orleans, La. for the 2018 Allstate® Sugar Bowl®, and while there, Mohorcic teamed up with former Good Works Team® member Tim Tebow and the popular band Imagine Dragons for a community service project at the APEX Youth Center.

As a Campbell Trophy® semifinalist, Mohorcic's been extended an invitation to the three-day Campbell Trophy® Summit at Stanford University this August. The summit enables invitees to interact and learn from many of the nation's top entrepreneurs and Silicon Valley CEOs about the lessons that have guided them to the highest levels of success.

Mohorcic's nomination centered around his work with the student organization Men Working For Change. The Highland Hts., Ohio native was part of a group of students who revitalized the organization, and the senior has since helped sponsor several campus-wide events, including the athletic department's "It's On Us" pledge, which encourages peers and bystanders to create a campus environment that makes sexual assault unacceptable. Additionally, the senior helped facilitate bystander intervention training discussions through the OneLove Foundation.

Other significant on-campus involvement for Mohorcic includes co-founding ScotsCare, an organization with a vision to develop a positive connection between Wooster athletic programs and students with special needs within the Wooster community, exploring the social change model of leadership as a student in the College's semester-long student leadership institute, and serving on the Title IX coordinator search committee.

Off campus, Mohorcic's assisted with South Euclid, Ohio's Rock the Block events, participated in the (i)Cleveland Summer Program, was a Cleveland Foundation Summer Internship Program participant working specifically with the tall ships event in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and has interned with a host of opportunities in the political sector.

On the field, Mohorcic was a three-year starter on the offensive line, the final two of which were spent at center. Mohorcic capped his career with second-team all-conference honors, and he was voted to the College Sports Information Directors of America's Academic All-District® team.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater and founder of Right to Play International Johann Koss was selected as the professional recipient of this year's Wooden Cup. The two other collegiate finalists were University of Redlands' Hannah Menk (soccer), and Marist College's Stephen Rizzo (cross country and track & field).

Mohorcic will begin work this July as a transfer pricing associate at BDO USA, LLP, in Washington, D.C., with plans to start graduate school near the nation's capital within the next year.