The educational and professional career of Johnny Mouradian ’76, MS ’98, has taken him to countless cities and more than half a dozen athletic halls of fame across the United States and Canada. He’s excelled on the lacrosse field, taught in classrooms, and guided organizations to championships.
Now, decades after being a trailblazer as a lacrosse player, Mouradian, who received his undergraduate degree from IC in physical education in 1976 and a master’s degree in exercise and sport science in 1998, is breaking new ground in his ancestral home of Armenia. This past summer, he created the country’s first-ever lacrosse camp through the Armenian Youth Lacrosse Mission. It was the first step toward creating what Mouradian envisions as an internationally recognized Armenian lacrosse team. He’s currently identifying Canadian-Armenian and American-Armenian lacrosse players of all ages to contact about traveling with him to Armenia to help coach the kids at the clinics.
Mouradian’s success story is one of hard work, perseverance, and the power of the Ithaca College community. Born and raised in St. Catharine’s, Ontario, with deep Armenian roots, he was voted “least likely to succeed” by his teachers in high school before later dropping out. “I didn’t have a whole lot of luck in school in my younger days,” he admitted.
But he started to work to change that. While enrolled at Niagara Community College, Mouradian had a chance encounter with Robert Aloian, who was not only a fellow Armenian and Mouradian’s high school physical education teacher but also a former Bomber who had graduated from IC in 1969. Mouradian said that Aloian ultimately convinced him to, as he put it, “get my act together.”