The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognized Nick Ackerman, CP, with its 2026 Silver Anniversary Award for his “significant place in collegiate wrestling history.”
The award recognizes individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletics careers and celebrates the achievements and contributions in their professional lives. Following graduation from Simpson College, Ackerman, who had bilateral lower-limb amputations as an infant, began working in O&P.
“It’s a career where you solve problems,” Ackerman told the NCAA. “You help people… and you’re changing their life and making something that seems so on the surface a big deal, less of a big deal. The goal is to allow them to return to normal, whatever that is for them. So if we can make not having a limb not be a big deal for them, that’s a good thing for me.”
In 2001, Ackerman was named a co-winner for the Hodge Trophy, wrestling’s highest individual honor, after a 20-match winning streak and winning the 174-lb. NCAA Division III national championship. He is the only Division III wrestler to have won the Hodge Trophy.
“Earning awards is never the goal,” he said. “Everything revolved around the process. Everything revolved around the work that went into it and the love of the sport. There’s a deep passion for something when you really love it. Whether it’s what I do now as a prosthetist or wrestling, it never feels like work. It’s hard, certainly, but it’s never something that you avoid.”
To read more of the interview, visit “Nick Ackerman earns 2026 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award for historic wrestling career” on the NCAA website.
