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BUFFALO, NY - University at Buffalo junior basketball standout Rasaun Young has been named one of six recipients of the N4A Achievement Award given by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics.

Young, a native of New Rochelle, NY, earned the award that goes to a student "who has overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics." He will be honored along with five other winners: Rhodora Freyvogel (Boston College), Karr Shannon (Southern Mississippi), Tyronee Bussey (Colorado), Nelson Martinez (Rhode Island) and James Wiggins (Austin Peay) on June 21 in Phoenix, AZ at the N4A's National Convention.

Young is currently the third all-time leading scorer in UB basketball history with 1,354 points with one year remaining. He led the Mid-Continent Conference in scoring during the regular season (20.1 ppg) and was named a first-team All-Conference member this past season. At New Rochelle High School, Young was named MVP of Westchester County his senior season and was the MVP of the New York State Class A Tournament.

Earlier this spring, Young was named the Most Valuable Player of the Big 4 ­ which is comprised of Canisius, Niagara, St. Bonaventure and UB. His 549 points this past season was the second-highest total in school history. Young was given very little chance of succeeding in high school, having grown up in the housing projects of New Rochelle surrounded by, in Young's words, "drugs, sex and violence." He was given even less of a chance to attend college when he was diagnosed late in his high school career with an extreme case of dyslexia and dysgraphia. Not only did Young achieve a score on the SAT that would allow him to participate in collegiate athletics but he has achieved a 2.9 grade point average while majoring in sociology at UB.

In his first two seasons at UB, Young scored 805 points and led the Bulls to an 18-10 record in the 1994-95 season while earning All-Conference honors. However, after being named the Mid-Con's pre-season MVP during the summer of 1995, things started to crumble around him. First he lost his father ­ who had left his family when Rasaun was very young because of drug abuse ­ to the AIDS virus. He also learned that his girlfriend was pregnant and the two had a baby daughter whom Rasaun has dedicated all of his success to. He also suffered an ankle injury in fall workouts ­ further aggravating an old injury ­ that caused him to medically redshirt the 1995-96 season. Despite all of those hardships, Young returned from his year of inactivity to lead the conference in scoring this past season and help the Bulls to a 17-11 record while continuing to succeed in the classroom.

"Rasaun Young exemplifies all that is good about intercollegiate athletics," said Craig Howe, Young's academic advisor at UB who submitted his nomination. "He has succeeded because of his will, his drive, and his work ethic. His achievements represent the motivation and sense of satisfaction felt by athletic academic advisors."

"Rasaun Young has confronted and conquered more problems than many young people can imagine," said UB President William R. Greiner. "He has indeed been an outstanding success, as both an athlete and a student, at UB." In his personal essay which he wrote for this award, Young wrote of his life to this point: "As long as I can remember, my life has been about a struggle to survive. About striving and being determined to reach my goals. About competing to succeed. About continuing to maintain. Most important, my life has been about making myself the best person I can be. "Success, to me, is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. I have always dreamed of becoming a college basketball player and one day to play professional ball. I plan to live the dream with passion."