This past weekend, Nick Hagglund received the club’s Cincinnatus Award – considered the club’s highest honor – for his contributions in the Greater Cincinnati community. The Cincinnatus Award is presented to the player who best embodies Cincinnatus with leadership shown on and off the field and active involvement in the Cincinnati community, and has been awarded every year since the club’s founding in 2016.
Perhaps it’s a fitting award for the first Cincinnati native on FCC’s MLS roster, but it’s an honor bestowed on a selfless individual who put others first throughout 2019.
“I felt really honored,” Hagglund said. “This is the first time this club has been here in MLS … For me, it’s just crazy to think that Cincinnati has an MLS team, and at the same time, I was able to come here.”
The FC Cincinnati club staff determined the honor based on Hagglund’s continuous initiative to attend community events and be the role model he grew up emulating when he was a kid.
“It's showing leadership qualities, both on the field and off,” said Kate Solomon, the FC Cincinnati Foundation executive director and vice president for the team’s present of community relations. “Nick has been actively involved in the community through camps and volunteer projects with our foundation and hospital visits. He's been all over the place.”
The Cincinnatus Award is named after legendary Roman figure who put the ancient republic over his own personal interests. Therefore, the award is meant for someone who holds similar values, and in the case of FC Cincinnati, helps spread positivity in the community. That he’s a Cincinnati native makes this even more special.
“He's just embraced it,” Solomon said. “Truly, being the person he is, I think he would do this anywhere. But I think it's special it's here in Cincinnati. There have been times that he's taken his wife and daughter along on some of these appearances for them to get involved in, so, it's a family thing.”
When asked why he’s kept this mentality, the center back essentially suggested, “Why not?”
“I just want to give back to Cincinnati in any way possible because I was one of those kids who had big dreams and I want to inspire kids in the same way,” Hagglund said. “As a soccer player, we have a platform to speak to everyone, and it’s important to me to inspire people from Cincinnati. I just want to show we’re not just soccer players, we’re humans and we care about each other.”
