An ice hockey player at Williams was selected from nominees representing all three NCAA divisions as this year's collegiate recipient of the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup.

William Bruce, a senior forward for the Ephs, was honored by Athletes for a Better World (ABW), a nonprofit organization committed to changing the culture of American sports. ABW annually honors a collegiate and a professional athlete as the year's most outstanding role models. Tennis professional Andrea Jaeger also was honored by the organization.

Bruce is a double major in economics and history at Williams, and also is co-president of the Lehman Service Council for community engagement and student chair of the college's honor and discipline committee.

Other collegiate finalists for the award, named for former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, were basketball players Jill Johnson of Missouri Western State and Peyton Stovall of Ball State, ice hockey player Ashley King of Wayne State (Michigan), and baseball player Jonathan Moehlig of Bloomfield.  

Bruce expressed "a great sense of humility at being around so many young people who are doing so much to make communities better" following the January 24 ceremony in Atlanta, and credited his school and coach Bill Kangas for encouraging community involvement.

"Williams College gave me a wonderful opportunity to play hockey and get involved in all aspects of campus life and many community-service projects," Bruce said. "Coach Kangas always encourages the team to take the lessons of teamwork outside the walls of the locker room and the rink to the community, and my parents (Bill and Lois Bruce of Nashville) showed me by example what love, humility, honesty and kindness can do to change people's lives."

Bruce is the fourth collegiate recipient of the Coach Wooden Cup. Anna Key, a California soccer player, was last year's recipient. Winners of the award are selected by a committee chaired by Vince Dooley, former athletics director and football coach at Georgia.