BRONX, N.Y. — As the 2024-2025 season begins to wind down, the Fordham University Athletic Department held its 91st annual Block F Awards Dinner in the Rose Hill Gym during the evening of April 30 to honor Fordham University’s student-athletes for their accomplishments during the academic year.
Among those honored were water polo’s Jacopo Parrella (Sr., Naples, Italy/Umberto I State Classical), who was the recipient of the Vincent T. Lombardi Award as Fordham’s top male student-athlete and head water polo coach Brian Bacharach, who received the Iron Major Award as Fordham’s Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.
The Vincent T. Lombardi Award is presented to the Male Athlete of the Year for distinguished athletic achievements in the winning tradition of Vince Lombardi. The award honors the memory of one of Fordham’s famed Seven Blocks of Granite, who is considered one of football’s greatest coaches.
Parrella, the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship, was a major reason for the water polo squad’s success this year as the Rams won their fourth straight league title and finished the regular season undefeated. He was named 2024 MAWPC All-Championship Team after compiling eight goals, two assists, and six steals in three games at the championship. Parrella finished the season with 48 goals and 42 assists for 90 points as the Rams advanced to the semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship. But more than his numbers, Parrella was the heart and soul of the team for the last four years. He moved position to allow the Rams to field their strongest team, and was responsible for guarding the other team’s top perimeter players.
Bacharach picks up his second straight Iron Major award as the Fordham Coach of the Year, third overall, after leading the water polo squad to its fourth straight MAWPC conference championship and fourth consecutive NCAA championship appearance. This year he took the team to a new level as the Rams went undefeated in the regular season en route to the championship. Fordham was then awarded a three-seed for the NCAA National Championships where the Rams defeated Long Beach State in the first round, Fordham’s first ever water polo win at the championship. The Rams then fell to the University of Southern California (USC) in overtime in the semifinals to close out the season with a 32-1 record and tied for third in the national rankings.
Following the season, Bacharach was named Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) National Coach of the Year.
Information courtesy Fordham University Athletics Communications
