{"id":3363,"date":"2022-03-09T16:00:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenicoleellisfoundation.org\/?p=3363"},"modified":"2022-07-13T16:26:26","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T16:26:26","slug":"2022-alumni-national-award-marquette-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenicoleellisfoundation.org\/?p=3363","title":{"rendered":"2022 Alumni National Award &#8211; Marquette University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SERVICE AWARD<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"193\" width=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.marquette.edu\/image\/All-U-Ellis_V1_190-x-245-crop_.jpg\" alt=\"Ellis\"><strong>Cynthia J. Ellis and Maurice H. Ellis, Sp \u201977\u00a0u<\/strong><br>South Holland, Ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Marquette Alumni Awards 2022 - Cynthia and Bo Ellis\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FGpxLKYdk1w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maurice \u201cBo\u201d Ellis has always loomed large on Marquette\u2019s campus. The 6\u20199\u201d forward served as captain of the 1977 NCAA championship basketball team under legendary coach Al McGuire. Bo and his wife, Candy, have long exhibited leadership and service off the court, too, speaking often about the importance of helping others and \u201cpaying it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was especially evident after the sudden death in 2003 of their beloved daughter, Nicole, at age 24 from a rare liver disease. They established a foundation in her memory, and one of its goals is to help students of color with limited resources receive a Marquette education as Nicole was a Class of 2000 Marquette graduate. The foundation also supports organizations including the American Liver Foundation, Variety, the Children\u2019s Charity of Wisconsin, Make-A-Wish and March of Dimes. \u201cWe want to leave a legacy in Nicole\u2019s name because she is no longer here,\u201d Candy explains. \u201cIf she was here, she would have made a name for herself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To fund the Nicole Ellis Foundation, Bo and Candy host an annual golf outing in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which is faithfully attended by Marquette alumni, friends, and former athletes. The foundation has provided significant support to student scholarships. Bo and Candy are known for their hands-on approach to this work, with Bo meeting in person with scholarship recipients. He says it gives him \u201can overwhelming sense of satisfaction\u201d to make this difference in students\u2019 lives. For example, one graduate student, who sold his car to help with his living expenses, was relieved to receive a scholarship to complete Marquette\u2019s accelerated nursing program and was quickly hired by a hospital at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ellises have a long history of other charitable endeavors too. Bo uses his status as a basketball legend working with the SKYGEN Foundation, visiting Milwaukee schools to talk with students about overcoming challenging circumstances and the importance of a good education. In 2019, they traveled to Tanzania for SKYGEN International assisting in their vision care program. Candy also served for more than ten years as a committee member for the March of Dimes-Chicago, assisting with their largest event, the Comcast Sports Awards. Her fundraising and volunteering experience also includes Susan G. Komen | Race for the Cure, Wood Family Foundation, and Salvation Army Toys for Tots, just to name a few. And every Fall season it\u2019s not unusual to find her combing sale racks to find well-priced winter coats to donate to churches for people in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Candy and Bo married in 1979 after meeting years earlier at a friend\u2019s party in Chicago while Bo was a student at Marquette and Candy was set to begin her freshman year at Loyola University Chicago. Decades later, they continue to live the values and service central to Jesuit education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked about their favorite Marquette memories, Bo and Candy don\u2019t talk about basketball. Instead, Bo describes the day Nicole crossed the Marquette stage to receive her degree, and the joy he feels in providing a student the financial support to complete their education. \u201cThe thing that counts most in life,\u201d Bo says, \u201cis what you do for others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fun Facts<\/strong><br>As a high school basketball player, Bo was recruited heavily by many universities, but nothing could match a pledge made by legendary Coach Al McGuire. \u201cHe promised my mom that no matter how long it took, he would make sure that I received my degree from Marquette,\u201d Bo recalls. \u201cThat sealed my decision to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bo created the famous untucked jerseys worn by his teammates during their 1976-1977 Championship season. The jersey designed was later banned by the NCAA, rumors were that other Division I schools felt it was a recruiting advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.marquette.edu\/image\/untucked.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>u&nbsp;Celebrating their Marquette Reunion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; SERVICE AWARD Cynthia J. Ellis and Maurice H. Ellis, Sp \u201977\u00a0uSouth Holland, Ill. Maurice \u201cBo\u201d Ellis has always loomed large on Marquette\u2019s campus. The 6\u20199\u201d forward served as captain of the 1977 NCAA championship basketball team under legendary coach Al McGuire. Bo and his wife, Candy, have long exhibited leadership and service off the court, too, speaking often about&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2022 Alumni National Award - Marquette University - Nicole Ellis Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thenicoleellisfoundation.org\/?p=3363\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2022 Alumni National Award - Marquette University - Nicole Ellis Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; SERVICE AWARD Cynthia J. Ellis and Maurice H. Ellis, Sp \u201977\u00a0uSouth Holland, Ill. Maurice \u201cBo\u201d Ellis has always loomed large on Marquette\u2019s campus. The 6\u20199\u201d forward served as captain of the 1977 NCAA championship basketball team under legendary coach Al McGuire. 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