ATLANTA (April 26, 2018) – Johann Koss, a four time Olympic Gold medalist and Founder of Right to Play, and Ashley Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania each received the 14th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Centre Wednesday night.  In the high school division, in partnership with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, Cups were awarded to Hope Baldwin, Hackett Catholic Prep in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Ethan Shuster of Shelton High School in Shelton, Connecticut. The Cup, in the words of Athletes for a Better World’s founder, Fred Northup, is “not for the best athlete, or the best student, but for the best person in the world of sports.” Previous recipients, including Jack Nicklaus, Mia Hamm, Cal Ripken, Peyton Manning, Pat Summitt and others, have made the Cup one of the most prestigious awards in sports, given its emphasis on character and its openness to athletes in all sports.
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The professional recipient, Johann Koss, is a four time Gold Medalist, the Founder of Right to Play, and an international humanitarian.

Koss made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Winter Olympics, finishing seventh in the 5,000m, five days after undergoing surgery because of an inflamed pancreas. He would recover to win gold in the 1,500m (by only 0.04 seconds over his countryman Ådne Søndrål) and silver in the 10,000m (behind Dutch skater Bart Veldkamp).

In 1994, the final year of his speed skating career, Koss also gained fame outside the speed skating world by winning three gold medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics in his native Norway, winning all races in new world records, two of which would remain unbeaten until the clap skate era. For his performance, he was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year in 1994, together with Bonnie Blair. In addition, he received the Oscar Mathisen Award for speed skating three times: in 1990, 1991, and 1994.

After his speed skating career, Koss trained as a physician at the University of Queensland in Australia. He became a UNICEF ambassador and a member of the International Olympic Committee (until 2002).

In 2000 Koss founded the Canadian-based International Humanitarian Organization Right To Play, which uses sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. The organization operates in more than 20 countries reaching over one million children each week and is supported by more than 620 staff worldwide and over 14,900 volunteer Coaches. In August 2015, Koss transitioned into the role of Founder at Right To Play where he still stays very active in a variety of fundraising initiatives, and where he maintains his seat on the International Board of Directors.

Koss completed his Executive MBA at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management in the University of Toronto in Canada. He has Honorary Doctorates from several universities – Brock University, University of Calgary, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, and the University of Agder in Norway. On 1 July 2015, Koss was made an honorary Member of the Order of Canada.

Koss and his wife Jennifer live in Toronto and have three children, Aksel, Annabelle and Andreas.

Athletes for a Better World (ABW) and The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) have formed a partnership to annually recognize one male and one female national NIAAA scholarship winner as automatic recipients of the prestigious Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup.  These two high school athletes will join one collegiate winner and a professional recipient each year as exemplary role models of the ABW Code for Living.  The recipients of the high school class of 2017 are Hope Baldwin and Ethan Shuster who will receive the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup on April 25, 2018 at the Atlanta banquet.  ABW Executive Director Brad Catherman and NIAAA Executive Director Mike Blackburn celebrated this achievement with the two recipients at the Opening General Session of the National Athletic Directors Conference conducted December 8, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona

The NIAAA Student Scholarship/Essay competition recognizes distinguished high school student athletes in the attribute areas of scholastics, leadership, citizenship, participation, volunteerism and the importance of school sports participation in the student’s life.  The ABW Code for Living criteria have been incorporated into the scholarship application by asking applicants to reflect upon the tenets of life lessons learned through sport and how they relate and impact their life.  The ABW book entitled Winning More Than the Game challenges readers to consider the Code for Living via exercises, as a springboard for life qualities of character development

Following are profiles of the two recipients:

Hope Vera Baldwin – Hackett Catholic Prep High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Hope’s parents are mother, Suzann Hartzell Baldwin, and the late Roger Baldwin. Hope graduated from Hackett Catholic Prep High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan, with a grade point average of 4.00. She is attending the University of Notre Dame studying Neuroscience. The Athletic Director at Hackett Catholic Prep High School is Mike Garvey, CMAA.  Hope earned nine varsity letters in her high school career, playing the sports of volleyball, basketball and soccer. She served as captain of the volleyball and basketball teams during her senior season. Hope was very active in her school as

Vice-president of her senior class and the National Honor Society. She also was involved in the student leadership team and student athletic advisory board.  In the community, Hope was a volunteer working with Migrant Ministry, Kalamazoo Valley Children’s Museum and she worked as a volunteer for the United States Tennis Association Nationals at the Zoo. She participated in Caring Network and the American Cancer Discovery Shop.

Ethan Shuster – Shelton High School, Shelton, Connecticut

Ethan is the son of Barb and Keith Shuster.  He graduated with a grade point average of 96.8% weighted on a scale of 100%.  Ethan is attending University of Connecticut, studying pre-med, and plans to be an anesthesiologist.  The athletic director at Shelton High School is John Niski.  Ethan earned eight varsity letters participating in soccer and indoor and outdoor track and field, while serving as captain of his track teams.  He was honored as a Wendy’s Heisman State Finalist.  Ethan was a member of National Honor Society and volunteered in the Annual blood drive, while participating in Junior State of America that helped prepare him for government issues within his community and state.  Ethan’s community activities included volunteering at Norwalk Hospital, where he served over 275 hours in the areas of operating room orderly, post anesthesia care unit, ambulatory care and transporting patients in and out of surgery and the pathology department.

The Scholarship Competition:  Students from 50 state athletic administrator associations, plus the District of Columbia, were able to submit a nomination form and essay.  The male and female winners were then screened by one of the eight Sections in which their state resides, creating eight male and eight female Section winners.  The NIAAA Board of Directors then evaluated the finalist’s scholastic record, athletic participation accomplishments, citizenship and leadership credentials on its way to selecting one male and one female national recipient.  Both recipients were on hand in Phoenix to receive their national scholarship of $2500, a personal trophy, a plaque for their high school and to read their winner essay entitled How High School Athletics Have Impacted My Life.  The total scholarship earned by the two national recipients was $4000.

About the NIAAA: The NIAAA is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is the national leadership organization for high school and middle school athletic administrators.  With current individual membership of over 10,000 the NIAAA consists of athletic administrators from associations in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Internationally.  The NIAAA leads in providing professional development for athletic administrators, serving as a resource and provider of safe and plentiful participation opportunities for the nation’s 7.9 million student-athletes.  With conducting education-based athletic programs as the focus, NIAAA membership provides opportunity for professional development, education, certification, national award recognition and exchange of ideas with athletic administrators throughout the world.

The 14th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award given to the most outstanding role models among athletes, has announced the professional, collegiate, and high school honorees for its 2018 award ceremony, to be held April 25 at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria. Bob Ryan, the famed sportswriter for the Boston Globe and analyst for ESPN, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.

Founded by Athletes for a Better World (ABW), a non-profit organization committed to changing the culture of American sports, the Wooden Cup is unique in that it is open to athletes in all high school, collegiate and Olympic or professional sports. Nominations are open to every division and conference in college sports and to athletes in public and private high schools across the country in a partnership with the National Association of High School Athletic Administrators.

The Wooden Cup is named for John Wooden, who won ten national championships during the years 1964–1975 as basketball coach at UCLA and is considered one of college sports’ greatest coaches.  But it was Wooden’s emphasis on character development in his players and his dedication to community service that drew ABW’s attention.  “John Wooden is universally regarded as one of the finest human beings to ever grace the world of sports, and his character, conduct and selfless gifts stand at the highest level by any standard,” said Fred Northup, ABW President. When Coach Wooden learned about Athletes for a Better World, he authorized ABW to attach his name to this annual award, and Coach Wooden attended and addressed the inaugural event in Los Angeles in 2005. In his honor, the Wooden Cup has been presented to two distinguished athletes, one collegiate and one professional or Olympic, for character and leadership both on and off the field and for contributions to sport and society. For the second year, the Wooden Cup, in partnership with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, will recognize two high school athletes as recipients in the high school division. 

The professional recipient, Johann Koss, is a four time Gold Medalist, the Founder of Right to Play, and an international humanitarian.

Koss made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Winter Olympics, finishing seventh on the 5,000 m, five days after undergoing surgery because of an inflamed pancreas. He would recover to win gold on the 1,500 m (by only 0.04 seconds over his countryman Ådne Søndrål) and silver on the 10,000 m (behind Dutch skater Bart Veldkamp).

In 1994, the final year of his speed skating career, Koss also gained fame outside the speed skating world by winning three gold medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics in his native Norway, winning all races in new world records, two of which would remain unbeaten until the clap skate era. For his performance, he was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year in 1994, together with Bonnie Blair. In addition, he received the Oscar Mathisen Award for speed skating three times: in 1990, 1991, and 1994.

After his speed skating career, Koss trained as a physician at the University of Queensland in Australia. He became a UNICEF ambassador and a member of the International Olympic Committee (until 2002).

In 2000 Koss founded the Canadian-based International Humanitarian Organization, Right To Play, which uses sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. The organization operates in more than 20 countries reaching over one million children each week and is supported by more than 620 staff worldwide and over 14,900 volunteer Coaches.  In August 2015, Koss transitioned in to the role of Founder at Right To Play where he still stays very active in a variety of fundraising initiatives, and where he maintains his seat on the International Board of Directors.

Koss completed his Executive MBA at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management in the University of Toronto in Canada. He has Honorary Doctorates from several universities – Brock University, University of Calgary, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, and the University of Agder in Norway. On 1 July 2015, Koss was made an honorary Member of the Order of Canada.

Koss and his wife Jennifer live in Toronto and have three children Aksel, Annabelle and Andreas.

The 2018 Collegiate Wooden Cup recipient will be announced at the April 25 award ceremony. Finalists for the collegiate division include:

Ashley Marcus, University of Pennsylvania, Fencing

Hannah Menk, University of Redlands, Soccer

Patrick Mohorcic, The College of Wooster, Football

Stephen Rizzo, Marist College, Cross Country

The high school recipients this year are Hope Vera Baldwin, Hackett Catholic Prep High School, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Ethan Shuster, Shelton High School, Shelton, Connecticut.

Master of Ceremonies Bob Ryan will bring extraordinary experience and perspective to the evening’s events.  He has been named “Sportswriter of the Year” four times in recognition of his work at ESPN and the Boston Globe.  He is a member of the College Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, a winner of the Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, and, perhaps most notably, a recipient of the Red Smith Award for sports journalism.

The Wooden Cup is becoming one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports. Previous professional recipients include Jack Nicklaus, Pat Summitt, Dikembe Mutombo, Drew Brees, Mia Hamm, Peyton Manning, John Smoltz, John Lynch, Andrea Yaeger, Shannon Miller and Cal Ripken, Jr.  Recipients of the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup are determined by the Wooden Cup Selection Committee after reviewing voting by the Board of Directors and over 100 distinguished individuals involved in athletics across the country.

ATLANTA (April 12, 2017) – Hall of Fame sportscaster Dick Vitale and Joe Spencer of the University of Illinois each received the 13th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria Centre on Wednesday night. Special recognition was also given to Chris Singleton of Charleston Southern, plus Erin Houchins and Ian Saum each received the first high school division awards. The Cup, in the words of Athletes for a Better World’s founder, Fred Northup, is “not for the best athlete, or the best student, but for the best person in the world of sports.” Previous recipients, including Jack Nicklaus, Mia Hamm, Cal Ripken, Peyton Manning, Pat Summitt and others, have made the Cup one of the most prestigious awards in sports, given its emphasis on character and its openness to athletes in all sports.
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Dick Vitale is well known as college basketball’s top analyst and ambassador. Vitale joined ESPN during the 1979-80 season following a successful college and pro coaching career. Vitale called ESPN’s first-ever NCAA basketball game and over 1,000 games since.His thorough knowledge of the game is brought forth in an enthusiastic, passionate, and never boring style. Vitale’s numerous honors reflect the respect he has earned for his contributions to sport and to the larger community and are highlighted by his inclusion in nine Halls of Fame, including the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Most importantly, Vitale is a tireless philanthropist. He was a founding member of the Board of Directors of The V Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer, and founded in 1993 by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano who died of the disease that year. Since its beginning, the V Foundation has awarded over $170 million in grants for research.Vitale’s primary interest is in children’s cancer and he has been tireless in his efforts. He co-chairs the annual V Foundation Golf Classic and is preparing to host the 12^th Annual Dick Vitale – V Foundation Gala in Sarasota, which raised nearly $3 million last year alone.

Born in East Rutherford, N.J., Vitale graduated from Seton Hall University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and earned a master’s degree in education from William Paterson College. He and his wife, Lorraine, have two daughters.

Athletes for a Better World (ABW) and The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) have formed a partnership to annually recognize one male and one female national NIAAA scholarship winner as automatic recipients of the prestigious Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup.  These two high school athletes will join one collegiate winner and a professional recipient each year as exemplary role models of the ABW Code for Living.  The inaugural recipients of the high school class of 2016 are Erin Houchins and Ian Saum who will receive the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup on April 11, 2017 at the Atlanta banquet.  ABW Executive Director Brad Catherman and NIAAA Executive Director Mike Blackburn celebrated this achievement with the two recipients at the Opening General Session of the National Athletic Directors Conference, conducted from December 10 through 13 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
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ATLANTA (January 8, 2017) – The 13th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award given to the most outstanding role models among athletes, has announced the professional, collegiate, and high school honorees for its 2017 award ceremony, to be held April 11 at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria. Bob Ryan, the famed sportswriter for the Boston Globe and analyst for ESPN, will serve as the Master of Ceremonies.

Founded by Athletes for a Better World (ABW), a non-profit organization committed to changing the culture of American sports, the Wooden Cup is unique in that it is open to athletes in all collegiate and Olympic or professional sports and, for the first time this year, to high school athletes. Nominations are open to every division and conference in college sports and to athletes in public and private high schools across the country in a new partnership with the National Association of High School Athletic Administrators.
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VIDEO: 2016 Wooden Cup Ceremony

Vince Dooley was born in Mobile, Alabama. He accepted a football scholarship to Auburn where he was an all-star in football and basketball and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and a Master’s in History. After service in the Marine Corps and as an assistant coach at Auburn, at the age of 31 he was named the head coach of Georgia. For over 50 years, he has had an enduring impact on the University of Georgia, the Southeastern Conference, and collegiate athletics across the country. He served as head football coach from 1963 to 1989, and as the Director of Athletics from 1979-2004. His 25 years as head football coach earned him the distinction as the most successful coach in Georgia history: a record of 201-77-10, one national championship (1980), six SEC Championships, and he took his teams to 20 Bowl games.

Dooley is the only person ever to hold the presidency of both the American Football Coaches Association and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, and the only person inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in two states, Georgia and Alabama. He has been the recipient of countless awards, including the highest national awards in coaching and in athletic administration including the Bear Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, the Duffy Daugherty Memorial Award, the James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the John L. Toner Award, and the Homer Rice Award. He was twice named NCAA National Coach of the Year, SEC Coach of the Year seven times, and NCAA District Coach of the Year six times. His football legacy was completed with his election to the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

As athletic director, his Georgia teams won 23 national championships, 78 SEC team championships and numerous individual national titles in both men’s and women’s sports. His contributions to UGA were recognized in 2008 with the dedication of the Vince Dooley Athletic Complex with a special statue and garden.

As part of the University’s Third Century Campaign, he initiated the Vincent J. Dooley Library Endowment Fund with a personal gift of $100,000. His community service and charity work are extensive and include work with the Heart Fund, Multiple Sclerosis, Juvenile Diabetes, Boy Scouts, the homeless, and he is currently serving on the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. He chaired a successful million dollar fund raising campaign for new Salvation Army facilities in Athens. He served 28 years as the long-standing chairman of the Georgia Easter Seals Society, was named National Volunteer of the Year, and a new Easter Seals facility in Atlanta was built and named for him. He and his wife, Barbara, co-chaired a fund-raising campaign to establish a Catholic high school in the Athens area. Dooley, who was instrumental in the University’s campus being designated as an arboretum, was presented with the Georgia Urban Forest Council’s 2001 Individual Achievement Award, and in the Horticulture Department an endowed professorship was established in his name.

For many years, he has also done hundreds of speaking engagements and appearances for numerous, worthwhile charitable causes. In the spring of 2016 he became Chair of The Georgia Historical Society (Savannah) and serves on the board of the National Civil War Preservation Trust and is chair of its Education Committee.

For the last seven years Dooley has spent a week each year in a foreign country doing service work. As a member of the Order of Malta, he went to Lourdes, France, accompanying the sick for healing, and for the past four years has worked in an impoverished village in Honduras.

Dooley is married to the former Barbara Meshad of Birmingham. They have four children: Deanna Dooley, Daniel (married to Suzanne Maher), Denise (Mrs. Jay Douglas Mitchell), and Derek (married to Allison Jeffers). They also have eleven grandchildren.