May 11, 1999
Lafayette College senior Renaldo Trancoso
(Brooklyn, NY/St. Augustine) has been awarded the prestigious
Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholar Award. Trancoso was one of just 11
players nationally to be selected to the men's soccer first team.
The awards are handed out annually by the Black Issues in Higher
Education Journal in recognition of outstanding student-athletes of
color from the nation's colleges and universities whose achievements
on and off the field of play are a tribute to the legacy of Arthur Ashe,
Jr. To qualify, the student-athlete must be a minority or student of
color, hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher through
the fall of 1998, and have demonstrated a record of service to the
institution or community.
Trancoso, a senior dean's list student majoring in mechanical
engineering, has maintained a 3.74 GPA while serving as a captain
and defensive leader of the men's soccer team that was nationally
ranked in the top 10 in team defense and shutouts per game in 1998.
A 1998-99 GTE/CoSIDA All-Academic District II First Team member,
Trancoso is president of Lafayette's Engineering Honor Society (Tau
Beta Pi) and has won several collegiate awards in his field. As a
native of Trinidad, Trancoso is also an active member of the
International Students Association at Lafayette.
Trancoso has become involved in the Lehigh Valley community
through the Department of Athletics' outreach programs. He has
spoken at several schools, emphasizing the importance of an
education and how athletics fit into the student-athlete equation.
Trancoso was a key component in the remarkable turnaround of the
Lafayette soccer program which went from a 4-12 doormat in 1997 to
a 16-5 champion in 1998, the seventh-best reversal of fortune in
NCAA history. Lafayette claimed the Patriot League regular-season
title and won the Patriot League Tournament championship on its way
to advancing to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship for just the
second time in school history. Lafayette's storybook season ended
when it faced the No. 1 team in the nation, Clemson.
Lafayette was the only Patriot League school to have a
student-athlete selected for the Sports Scholar Award in men's
soccer. It also marks three straight years a Lafayette student-athlete
has earned such an honor. Soccer player Guyan Randall won in
1997-98 and Janeese Armero received the same citation in 1996-97
for women's tennis.
