Wisconsin Coach Mark Johnson Earns LombardI Award of Excellence
Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson has led his fifth-ranked Badgers team to a 22-5-3 overall record this season. |
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March 3, 2004
MILWAUKEE - Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds has selected University of Wisconsin women's hockey head coach Mark Johnson as the volunteer organization's Vince Lombardi OeAward of Excellence' honoree for 2004.
Johnson will receive the 2004 Lombardi Award this Saturday at the 14th-annual Vince Lombardi OeAward of Excellence' black tie dinner ball at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. He will be joined by his wife Leslie and their five children.
"I am humbled and honored," Johnson said. "If you look at the past recipients, it's very impressive, so to be in that company, it's a very big honor. Having lost my dad to cancer in the early '90s, it's a very special award."
Named after the legendary head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince T. Lombardi, who died from intestinal cancer in 1970, the OeAward of Excellence' is presented annually to a person that the Lombardi Funds "determines has made a OeHall of Fame' contribution to a sport, profession, business or community in a manner that exemplifies the highest qualities of leadership, positive influence and an appreciation of God, country, family and self - not only to the sport, profession or business involved - but to the men, women and children whose lives are enhanced by striving to emulate those standards".
As the newest honoree, Johnson joins an elite list of Lombardi Award winners including 2003 Honoree Peggy Fleming, Hank Aaron, John Wooden, Bart Starr, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Dan Jansen, Bob Hope and President George H. Bush.
A member of the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team and an 11-year veteran of the National Hockey League, Johnson is currently leading the Wisconsin women's hockey team to its best season in program history.
The Badgers, ranked fifth nationally, have built a 22-5-3 overall record and 16-5-1 mark in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The team's 22 wins this season ties the school record for most victories set in both the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns. Additionally, the Badgers' 16 league wins are just one victory shy of tying the program-best mark of 17 WCHA wins in 2001-02.
Wisconsin wraps up its regular season this weekend against Bemidji State at the Kohl Center. The Badgers drop the puck against the Beavers Saturday and Sunday at 2:05 p.m. A series sweep against the Beavers would give this season's Badgers the school record in both overall and league victories in one season, while helping Johnson lead Wisconsin to a possible first-ever appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four.
In 1971, the first-ever Vince Lombardi Golf Classic was organized with the support of Mrs. Marie Lombardi and a team of civic-minded volunteers to help raise money for cancer research and education. Now 34 years after its inception, Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds has raised $7 million to help fight cancer. The volunteer organization's sole purpose is to raise funds for cancer research, education, patient care and early detection for the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic at St. Luke's Medical Center which averages 3,000 treatments per month.
Through fund-raising events such as this Saturday's OeAward of Excellence' black tie dinner ball, the Walk For Cancer, Golf Classic and the Blocks of Granite program, Vince Lombardi Charitable funds achieves its mission to "in the spirit of excellence, give their time, talent, energy and personal resources towards the advancement of research, education, treatment and patient care programs. Through philanthropy, this commitment will touch the lives of those individuals and their families who are afflicted with cancer."
For more information on the Lombardi OeAward of Excellence' and this Saturday's dinner ball, please visit Vince Lombardi Charitable Funds at www.lombardiclassic.com. A complete list of past OeAward of Excellence' honorees is listed below.
PAST RECIPIENTS - LOMBARDI AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
1991 - Pete Rozelle
1992 - Bob Hope
1993 - President George Bush
1994 - Jane & Lloyd Pettit
1995 - Dan Jansen
1996 - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
1997 - Bart Starr
1998 - Eddie Robinson
1999 - Don Shula
2000 - John Wooden
2001 - Jack Nicklaus
2002 - Hank Aaron
2003 - Peggy Fleming
2004 - Mark Johnson
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