Wicka is in his fourth season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Johnnies in 2025, working with linebackers.
A 1990 graduate of SJU, Wicka was a three-year starter at linebacker and a member of two NCAA playoff teams (1987 and 1989) and the 1989 MIAC championship squad. Wicka was named All-MIAC twice (second team in 1988 and first team in 1989).
After graduating from SJU, he has gone on to a long and successful career founding and leading businesses in the direct marketing, commercial printing and health care tech services industries.
That included serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, as well as owner of IWCO Direct, for almost nine years, and as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of NovuHealth from 2012 to 2020.
Currently, he is a founder and investor with River Road Investors, an investment group that also includes fellow Johnnies David Sunberg and Carter Hanson, another former standout linebacker for the Johnnies.
He has always made sure to give back, including through founding the Nash Avery Foundation with his wife Angie to combat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It’s named after the couple’s son Nash, who was diagnosed with the condition at age 4 and waged a courageous battle against it before his passing in 2017.
He has also been a major contributor to the Walker Art Center, where he served on the board of trustees, and is currently leading a $70 million capital campaign for CommonBond, an organization that provides stable housing, other assistance and financial education to those in need. He’s also worked with Saint John’s Institutional Advancement and fellow Johnnie graduates Mike Magnuson and Tim Healy to establish and maintain The Gagliardi Legacy Fund.
In addition, he has spent the last three seasons volunteering as an assistant coach for the Johnnie football team – working with the team’s linebackers – after being encouraged by Mike Magnuson, who has served as offensive line coach for the past 10 years. The two played football together in grade school at Nativity, high school at Cretin-Derham Hall and college at Saint John’s.
It is for those efforts, and plenty of others, that Wicka has been named the winner of the 2025 Bob Basten Award, presented annually to a former Johnnie football player who has exhibited outstanding leadership traits, is involved with his community and alma mater, has carried a sense of fair play beyond the football field and has demonstrated an overall commitment to excellence.
He and his wife, Angie, live in Edina and have two children, Nash, who passed away in 2017, and their daughter, Coco.
