MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: O'Connor Caps Career with Perfect Season

In many ways, 2009-10 was the year of the dominant Harvard male athlete. Jeremy Lin captained the men’s basketball team to its best season ever and was a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award. Andre Akpan led men’s soccer to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament and was runner-up for the Hermann Trophy. And Colin West won a squash national title.

Yet each member of that group lost at some point during their solid senior seasons. J.P. O’Connor, on the other hand, was never beaten.

In the face of this extraordinarily talented group, the wrestling co-captain reigned supreme, standing out among extremely tough competition just as he had done all year long.

O’Connor finished off a brilliant collegiate career this season by winning a national championship—just the third in Crimson wrestling history—and tying the school’s all-time wins record.

“I’m so lucky to be able to finally win that national title that I had been working towards for four years, and to be able to do it for my family and for my coaches and for Harvard was pretty amazing,” O’Connor said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish my Harvard career.”

O’Connor was unstoppable from the get-go, finishing a perfect 35-0—the only undefeated season in Harvard history—and bringing his career record to 132-16.

The accolades that have come with that record have been many—three-time All-American, four-time EIWA finalist, two-time Ivy Wrestler of the Year, and the list goes on. But despite his impressive list of accomplishments, it is the captain’s character and leadership that elevate him to truly elite status.

“J.P. is very sincere in everything he does,” Crimson coach Jay Weiss wrote in a letter of recommendation. “He is one of the best wrestlers I have ever coached, but yet he concerns himself with others and those that have helped him along the way.”

O’Connor has led team community service projects at the Cambridge Homeless Shelter and with Habitat for Humanity and has excelled in the classroom too. Despite taking a pre-med courseload, O’Connor has maintained a high GPA and has been named a three-time Academic All-American.

“J.P. is a class act in every aspect of life,” Weiss wrote. “[He] epitomizes the type of athlete every coach wishes to have as part of his program—a leader who combines the ideals of athletic achievement, scholarship, and sportsmanship.”

O’Connor’s talent has been on display since the beginning of his career, when he became the Crimson’s first freshman All-American wrestler. But it has been his willingness to step up and lead in the face of adversity that has truly distinguished O’Connor from his peers.

For example, at the 2008 NCAA tournament, the then-sophomore O’Connor tore both his ACL and PCL. Despite being barely able to put on any weight on his injured leg, O’Connor—knowing he needed one more win to repeat his All-American status—went on to take down the defending national champion and display the type of determination that many enormously talented athletes lack.

“I have full confidence in putting J.P. in any type of leadership position and know his teammates will respect anything he does or says,” Weiss remarked in the letter. “He always puts the team ahead of himself.”

Of all his accomplishments, O’Connor had his greatest triumph this past March, when he blistered his way through the NCAA tournament, outscoring his opponents, 51-10, and leaving little doubt that he was the best collegiate wrestler the nation had to offer at 157 lbs.

In the finals, he defeated his rival, Chase Pami of Cal Poly, 6-4, to win the national title in front of 15,000 fans in Omaha, Neb.

“It was very surreal to work your whole life for a seven-minute match and then it’s over...it was almost like it didn’t happen,” O’Connor said. “I watched it the next day, and it brought a huge smile to my face. It finally was able to sink in—holy smokes, I won a national title.”

After finally achieving his career-long goal of winning a national championship, O’Connor has no desire to stop doing what he loves. He plans to stick around as a volunteer assistant for the Harvard wrestling team and to continue training with hopes of making the 2012 Olympic squad and representing his country in London.

“It’s going to be a long process. I’m just trying to get a lot of experience,” O’Connor said. “[International wrestling] is a different style. I’m starting at the bottom once again. It’s a new challenge for me.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.