By Jim Ducibella
University Relations

John Mitrovic was stumped.

He had been invited to address William & Mary's senior student-athletes as they prepared for graduation and life on the outside. He had no idea what to say.

Finally, Mitrovic '83 went biographical.

He told the audience about his father, a Croatian refugee who escaped from the Fascists into Italy in 1944. Fluent in six languages, he attended the University of Bologna medical school for a year and a half, left to serve in the war then returned a year later and finished his medical degree.