Tennis' Buxbaum earns coveted NCAA scholarship

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The NCAA has released its list of 2008-09 Postgraduate Scholarship Award winners with Haverford's Alex Buxbaum '09 earning one of the coveted scholarships, joining an elite list of Fords student-athletes as only the 22nd awardee in the school's history.

The first men's tennis player from the College to be honored with the scholarship, Buxbaum was one of 29 spring sport male athletes from all divisions of the NCAA to pick up the award this year.

A two-sport athlete who played both tennis and squash for Haverford, he majored in political science and minored in educational studies. The men's tennis team co-captain has already taken the next step in his life having accepted a two-year commitment with Teach for America as a secondary school English teacher in the Philadelphia Public School District. Buxbaum has also been accepted into The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education where he will be enrolled in the master's degree program in secondary education.

The seed that grew into a career path for Buxbaum was planted during his eight month experience working with SquashSmarts, a non-profit after-school program whose mission is to tutor urban youths in the sport of squash while simultaneously working to improve their academic performances.

"Educating our country's urban youth is something that is both important to me and essential for our future," said Buxbaum. "Teach for America has provided me the opportunity to do what I love," he added, "and Penn will provide me with the chance to hone my teaching skills. I'm grateful that the NCAA has honored me with one of their scholarships to help kick-start a new and exciting phase of my life."

Buxbaum completed his tennis career at Haverford having earned All-American distinction in doubles (2007), All-Centennial Conference honors five times (twice in singles, three times in doubles), Centennial Academic Honor Roll inclusion twice and an ITA Scholar-Athlete selection in 2008. He posted a 30-19 career record in singles and a 46-15 record in doubles play. His 46 wins on the doubles court is the fifth-most in program history and his doubles winning percentage of .754 is sixth best all-time for the Fords.

"Alex came to Haverford with very little tournament experience and he was overly critical of himself in practices and matches early on," said Haverford men's coach Sean Sloane. "To his credit, he progressed and closed out his career playing in the #1 spot for us in singles and doubles, won one Invitational's sportsmanship award, and has been an inspirational leader both on and off the court for us. A dedicated and charismatic teacher at SquashSmarts, he'll now employ those same qualities with Teach for America. Alex is exactly what our educational system needs," Sloane added.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship program was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes in their final year of intercollegiate athletic competition. The NCAA awards up to 87 $7,500 scholarships for both men and women -- 29 each (men and women) for fall, winter and spring sports -- employing an equitable approach in reviewing student-athlete's academic and athletic achievements as well as campus involvement, community service, volunteer activities and demonstrated leadership.

Three other Fords were finalists this spring -- All-American Jessie Belden in women's outdoor track and field, Dean Laganosky in baseball, and Dan O'Toole in men's outdoor track and field.