‘Survivor’ Winner Discusses AIDS in Trenton
From The Trentonian
‘Survivor’ winner discusses AIDS in city
LISA MEYER, Staff Writer
Ethan Zohn is probably best known for his televised encounter with nature, though, where he was stranded with 15 strangers for one month in the African wilderness without modern encumbrances, like time and fashion.
“I’m lazy, I guess,” admitted the modest, and still single, millionaire, pinching his scruffy chin. “I don’t shave every day.”
The Vassar grad who was catapulted into fame now balances his full-time job as assistant coach of men’s and women’s soccer at Fairleigh Dickinson University with his new assignment in pushing AIDS education and community development through soccer.
“I am the soccer guy that played “Survivor,” not the “Survivor” guy that played soccer,” Zohn said yesterday before head coaches of area schools and teams of local volunteers at the Isles headquarters in Trenton.
“Soccer is near and dear to my heart. It is my passion. It is what I know best. It’s a world sport and it’s a community builder.”
Zohn brought stealth and stamina — and a subtle wit — to the internationally televised game show. His new mission dovetailed with that of Isles, a Trenton-based community development group.
Soccer’s universal popularity is what makes the game so appealing to audiences from Tokyo to Trenton, said Isles president Martin Johnson. Especially in New Jersey that has a growing and diverse population.
But Trenton resident, Ebony Williams, 20, an Isles volunteer, needed some convincing.
“When you say soccer, well, how do you look at soccer as more than just a sport?”
Soccer is sometimes eclipsed by football and baseball, admitted Charlie Inverso, the coach for Mercer County Community College. But city schools have a wealth of talent that needs to be tapped.
Zohn credits strategies learned on the field with his victory in the wilderness.
“Everyone hates the head coach. Everyone loves the assistant coach. And I was the assistant (in ‘Survivor’),” said Zohn, looking sheepishly at the head coaches of the area’s top schools. “No offense.”
“I didn’t want to be the guy that stepped up and barked orders,” he continued. “And being on hundreds of teams, you’ve got to show up and make it work. I had eight new players every time and I no idea who they were.”
Zohn sees soccer as a new tool to pull communities together and to get a message out.
“I am trying to make my point overseas,” he said of his personal mission. “After ‘Survivor,’ my program was to go to Zimbabwe and to get soccer players to talk about AIDS. Nobody has tried to do this before.”
Zohn and his entourage later lunched on chicken cacciatore, vodka rigatoni, antipasto salad, and homemade tira misu at Marsilio’s.
“It was cooked, by the way,” said owner Alan Meinster of the chicken. “I have had some very interesting and wonderful people come through here. He was a nice guest.”
The Mercer County Cup tournament will be held Sept. 1.