Mount Pleasant, S.C., (April 28, 2023) – The National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center (NMOHLEC) is one of 20 charities that will benefit from the Southern Company Peach Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament that brings together a roster of current and former college football coaches.
Among the participants is Tom O’Brien, former head coach at Boston College and North Carolina State University and a member of the NMOHLEC board of directors. He intends to donate his share of the $300,000 charity purse to the National Medal of Honor Leadership & Education Center, which is in the midst of a $75 million capital campaign to build a museum and conference center at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.
The goal of the NMOHLEC is to prepare citizens with the leadership knowledge and skills gleaned from the experiences and examples of Medal of Honor recipients. Besides the facility in South Carolina, the NMOHLEC is developing an education program and curriculum for current and future leaders based around Medal of Honor leadership virtues of courage, integrity, commitment, sacrifice, citizenship and patriotism. This program is designed for college students and those in the workforce.
“Many worthwhile charities will benefit from this gathering of my fellow coaches, but in my opinion, none are more important to the future of this nation than the programs of the National Medal of Honor Leadership & Education Center. Our future depends on instilling in this generation and those to come the core values that will ensure they do the right thing when called upon.”
– Tom O'Brien
The annual Southern Company Peach Bowl Challenge will take place from April 30 to May 2 at Reynolds Lake Oconee outside Atlanta. Since its creation in 2007, the event has contributed a total of $9 million in scholarship and charity, helping make Peach Bowl, Inc. college football’s most charitable bowl organization.
The current field includes national championship winners Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier, along with current coaches Mike Norvell, Pat Narduzzi, Dino Babers, Shane Beamer, Eliah Drinkwitz, Jeff Monken and Brent Key and others.
O’Brien served as head coach at Boston College from 1997 to 2006 and North Carolina State from 2007 to 2012, amassing a record of 115-80. He also graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a three-year starter at defensive end for the Midshipman. He served nine years in the Marines and began his coaching career as an assistant at Navy.“We are very grateful to Coach O’Brien for his unwavering support of our mission,” said Thomas Mundell, chief executive officer of the National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center. “Through his service to our country and the development of so many young people during his career, he embodies the values that are at the heart of all that we do at the The National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center”
The National Medal of Honor Leadership & Education Center intends to break ground in the summer of 2024 on the 50,000-square-foot facility at Patriots Point. This two-story building will include a conference center and a separate museum that will feature a curated, immersive and multimedia visitor experience, emphasizing what unites America and promoting Medal of Honor values and inspiring people to use these ideals to shape the future.
Once constructed, the conference center will provide character development and leadership symposiums, certification programs, coaching and retreats and immersive and special exhibits. The National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center is putting a special emphasis on corporate, healthcare, education, veterans and nonprofit groups.
The National Medal of Honor Leadership and Education Center has also developed a program for university students that will debut the first week in August with a seminar at The University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business. Other schools that have committed to the program include Johns Hopkins University and The Citadel. The program is chaired by retired USMC Major General Leo V. Williams III and was developed by a national committee led by Dr. Justin Habash, assistant dean for teaching and learning at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a former Army Rangers-qualified paratrooper.
