Burzis Kanga - March 1980 Athlete of the Month
Tennis, University of New Orleans
Kanga, a star tennis player at UNO, was selected as the Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month for March of 1980. Kanga, who at one point in the 1980 season won 20 straight matches, won 13 matches, including 12 in a row, while losing just twice in March. His only losses were when he had to retire from a match due to an arm injury and to Tulane's Neil Shapiro, the seventh-ranked 21-and-under player in the United States. Earlier in the month, Kanga defeated Shapiro in three sets. The promising UNO student was undefeated in February with nine straight wins and posted an overall 22-2 record for the first two months of the season. He was named the team's MVP.
Kanga was selected over Tulane baseball catcher Sam Dozier and LSU basketball player Jordy Hultberg for the March honor.
