After a memorable year in which he advanced to the finals of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship, Tulane's Michael Kogan was selected as the Male Athlete of the Year for New Orleans. The honors are selected by the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.
Kogan had very little room for improvement going into his senior season, but nonetheless he managed to do even more than he had in each of his remarkable first three seasons as a Green Wave tennis player.
Kogan entered his senior season in 2004 as a three-time Conference USA Player of the Year and three-time All-American. In his final season he repeated those accomplishments and went one better by advancing to the NCAA singles championship.
Though he lost in the finals, a rare occurrence during Kogan’s rare career, he is clearly the best men’s tennis player and one of the most accomplished athletes in Tulane history. For his accomplishments as a senior, Kogan was selected the Outstanding Male Amateur Athlete in the Greater New Orleans Area by the Nokia Sugar Bowl media selection committee.
Kogan also was named the Conference USA Male Athlete of the Year for 2003-04 in a vote of the league’s athletic directors. Kogan, a five-time All-American from Kfar-Saba, Israel, has graduated from Tulane’s business school and started his professional tennis career.
Kogan won five straight matches at the NCAA Tournament, including an upset over the No. 5 seed, to advance to the finals. He was the first Tulane athlete to play for the national championship since 1955.
He was named Louisiana Player of the Year in each of his four seasons at Tulane, As a senior, Kogan was 22-6 in singles matches and 17-5 in doubles matches and finished the year ranked 10th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITA). He was 17-5 in singles versus ranked opponents and lost just two matches from March 9-May 31.
Kogan and doubles partner David Goulet were selected to the field of 32 for the 2004 NCAA Doubles Championship, Kogan’s fourth trip to the NCAA doubles tournament with his third different partner. He and Goulet were undefeated from Feb. 22 until a loss in the NCAA Championship, and finished ranked 19th in the nation.
During his career, Kogan led Tulane to three Conference USA titles and to four straight trips to the NCAA regionals.
Kogan began writing his name in the Green Wave record book almost from the moment he set foot on campus. By the time he walked away, it was written in record books throughout Louisiana, Conference USA and the NCAA.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
