Joseph Ngwenya, '03

Joseph Ngwenya came to Coastal as a scrawny kid from Zimbabwe with all the tools—athletic ability, academic goals and social grace. After four years in a program that he morphed into a powerhouse, Ngwenya graduated in December 2003 with degrees in computer science and history. He is one of the most decorated alumni in school history.

His whirlwind collegiate career included enough All-American honors to earn him U.S. citizenship if he requested it. From the moment he set foot on campus, the awards poured in from his accomplishments as a student and as an athlete.

While his name wasn’t as well known around the Grand Strand as that of football coach David Bennett, Ngwenya has had a significant impact on sports at Coastal. Name recognition is a powerful force in small Division I athletics. The combination of Ngwenya and the new football team introduced a whole new segment of Americans to Coastal Carolina, the university (as opposed to coastal Carolina, the resort).

In his senior year, Ngwenya shattered nearly every major school record and broke down more barriers than many thought possible. Finishing as a finalist for the Hermann Trophy—college soccer’s version of the Heisman Trophy—Ngwenya was only votes away from winning the coveted prize and pulling a small-school coup.

Most major awards overlook players from the smaller institutions, especially those in smaller conferences, because of the perception that they are playing against lesser competition. While schools like Winthrop and UNC-Asheville aren’t exactly powerhouses like North Carolina or Wake Forest, Ngwenya showed in the NCAA tournament that he could score against anybody. Nearly single-handedly, Ngwenya led the Chanticleers to the third round of the tournament, beating Davidson at home before shocking the fourth-ranked Tarheels in Chapel Hill during the second round.

He finished the season with 21 goals and 56 points, leading the nation in scoring for the second straight season. Along the way, he broke the school records for career shots, goals and points. It’s hard to imagine a more dominant senior season.

On-field play, however, is only half the story. Everyone who meets the 6-foot-1-inch, 175-pounder seems more impressed with Ngwenya the person than with Ngwenya the soccer star. At Coastal, for every goal he made, it seemed Ngwenya had an A in the classroom. For every assist, he made a new fan, drawn to the charismatic yet modest foreigner they knew simply as “Joe.”

“I think I’ll probably be remembered as a goal scorer, but I’d rather people just remember me as a team player,” said Ngwenya. “I wouldn’t have done anything without my teammates. I got a lot of attention because I played on great teams, not because I scored a lot of goals. Somebody will break my records one day. If somebody breaks them that means that the team is doing pretty well and that’s a good thing.”

One certain indicator of Ngwenya’s stature is that he was the third overall pick in the Major League Soccer Super Draft. He signed with the Los Angeles Galaxies in May 2004, and he played in 13 of the Los Angeles team’s first 14 games, scoring three goals and assisting on two others. With the Galaxy’s lineup constantly changing due to international callups for several regular starters, Ngwenya started half of those 14 games and, with his strong play, put pressure on the coaching staff to get him on the field more often. The club sees Ngwenya as one of its future stars.

At Coastal Carolina, he’ll always be one.