Bronx, N.Y. – (September 18, 2025) – The Fordham water polo program has released that junior center
Reid Thorson is the inaugural recipient of the Eric Weber Award.
The Eric Weber award will be given every year to a returning student-athlete that exhibits outstanding leadership and athletic ability. The award winner is bestowed with the honor of wearing cap #7 for the next season, which was Weber's number during his playing days. The cap will also don Weber's initial's "EW" on the back.
Weber was the first ever three-time All-American for Fordham water polo, leading the program to new heights as a result of his athletic talent, commitment to excellence, and leadership; in the pool and outside of it. He was inducted into the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.
"When the discussion started with Kola Romano, Rick Sweeney, and Chris Judge about creating an award, all three men felt that Eric Weber was the perfect person to honor. Eric was a great water polo player, but his impact was far greater than just his play in the water. He was a leader on campus and everything he did in life afterwards," said head coach
Brian Bacharach. "This award personifies exactly the ideals that we are looking to achieve with our young men: building elite level water polo players, that achieve at a high level in the classroom and go on to do great things in whatever their chosen path in the world may be."
Over his first two seasons at Fordham, Thorson has been a part of two MAWPC Championship teams in 2023 and 2024, earning bids to the National Collegiate Championship. Entering the 2025 season, he has appeared in 58 games with 24 goals to his credit. He is also a two-time member of the ACWPC All-Academic Team and has volunteered his time to help with Freshmen Move-In Day as well as joining the team volunteer activity with P.O.T.S. (Part of the Solution) in the Bronx.
"Reid exemplifies everything we want in a Fordham water polo player: a hard-working leader, that is as focused on what he is doing in the pool as he is in the classroom and what he is going to do after his time at Rose Hill. He brings a championship level intensity every time he gets into the water, but does it in a selfless, team first manner. I could not think of a better person to be the first to receive this annual honor," said Bacharach.
