News & Events
City Tech's Malave Caps Successful Second Chance at College
with Selection as the CUNYAC Player of the Year
Life doesn't always provide second chances. But Shacun Malave followed his mother's advice and seized his second chance at college success. The result? Both on and off the court, he has delivered.
On February 19, at The City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Awards Luncheon at New York's Water Club, Malave, the 24-year-old, 6-foot-7, 265 pound center for the New York City College of Technology (City Tech) basketball team, the Yellow Jackets, was named the CUNYAC Player of the Year, sweetening what is already a year to remember.
Malave is the second of five children born to his Puerto Rican father and Salvadoran mother. Raised by his mother, Shacun was a basketball star at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and was nominated to be a member of the McDonald's All-Star team. He resides in the Bronx's Hunts Point section.
Right out of high school, Malave started college, but found himself goalless, unable to focus and, quickly, on the outside of college looking in. Deeply shaken, he spent the next several years working in a warehouse, pushing aside his college dreams. He kept his basketball game sharp, however, playing on the Salvadoran national team at the summer 2002 Caribbean Games.
Opportunity presented itself later that year when Malave found himself speaking with an assistant basketball coach at City Tech. But he wasn't sure. And this is where his mother, a social worker at La Peninsula Head Start in the Bronx and Malave's role model, played a crucial part. She reminded him that he wouldn't be young forever and urged him to take advantage of this second chance to develop himself to his fullest potential. Malave seized that second chance and has never looked back.
The City Tech junior's basketball performance has made basketball fans all over the city sit up and take notice. He has been the heart of a team that has won 15 of its 25 games, including 65-63 victory against Baruch College in the first round of the CUNYAC Men's Basketball Championships. This is in sharp contrast to the 6-20 record the team had racked up in the previous year, when he joined it in mid-season.
Malave is the CUNYAC leader (and second in the nation) in blocked shots with 151 and is averaging 19.2 points per game (480 points). He is an effective shooter as well, making 55.9 percent of field goals and 82 percent of free-throws, and a solid, steady rebounder (260 rebounds, 10.4 per game, which is the best in CUNYAC, and 15th nationally). He has won "CUNYAC Player of the Week" three times (December 1, December 15, 2003 and February 9, 2004) and was named "Eastern College Athletic Conference Player of the Week" in February.
In his career, he has scored 815 points (third on the all-time list at City Tech). In addition, he is the City Tech all-time leader in rebounds (470), blocked shots (225), free throws made (216), and is second in career field goal percentage (52.7 percent).
"Shac," as he is called by teammates and fans, pays very little attention to the individual statistics. He seems embarrassed when it is pointed out that by the end of his senior year, he will own most of the individual records at City Tech. Personal statistics aren't his focus -- he wants a championship in order to leave a legacy. "I want to see our team succeed and for it to leave behind something that will motivate other City Tech teams to try to duplicate and surpass," he says.
Ray Amalbert, athletic director and head basketball coach at City Tech, is himself a former City Tech All-American basketball player. Amalbert says of Malave, "He is just simply a pleasure to coach. He thinks first of the team, not of his own statistics. And that's what we need, because everyone has to step up if we are going to win."
Malave is deeply committed to succeeding on the academic front, as well. He plans to complete his bachelor's degree in technology teacher education and then make a career teaching computer skills to high school students.
New York City College of Technology of The City University of New York fields 14 Division III men's and women's teams. It is a recognized national model for urban technological education and a pioneer in integrating technology into the teaching/learning experience.
