University of Virginia Men’s Lacrosse player Cole Kastner has been awarded the T. Rodney Crowley Scholarship for 2023-2024.
Awarded to an accomplished UVA student who demonstrates leadership, sportsmanship, character and integrity, the Crowley Scholarship provides the equivalent of full in-state tuition for the recipient’s undergraduate fourth year.
A third-year student in the McIntire School of Commerce, with concentrations in Finance and Information Technology, Kastner is a dean’s list student and has been named to the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll every semester since enrolling at the University.
During his time at UVA, Kastner has been an All-ACC and All-America defensive player and team captain. Earning second team All-America honors after his second season, he was also named ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Kastner has a strong record of community involvement at the University and in the Charlottesville area. Within the Department of Athletics, he is a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He also is involved in the Citizen Leader and Sports Ethics Community Impact Fellowship program, which helps empower student-athletes to address issues including the strain of balancing competitive sports pressures with academic responsibilities and social and emotional well-being. He has also tutored local students at Burley Middle School.
“Cole has the gift of uplifting others, and he goes straight at the challenges he accepts in life,” Cavalier Men’s Lacrosse Coach Lars Tiffany said. “With Cole as a friend, a teammate, or a leader, you will have a devoted, trusted, and thoroughly engaged man by your side or out in front leading the charge. I could think of no one better than Cole to carry on the exceptional torch of the Crowley legacy.”
The T. Rodney Crowley Jr. Memorial Scholarship was established in 1991 to honor a rising fourth-year student who best exemplifies the qualities and characteristics of its namesake. Remembered as the consummate student, athlete, coach, and friend, Crowley played varsity tennis each of his four years at Virginia and captained the team before competing professionally. After earning his degree from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1980, he coached the UVA Women’s Tennis Team to a 15-9 season and state championship in 1981. Crowley was a member of Zeta Psi fraternity, the Z Society, and T.I.L.K.A. Society. He died of brain cancer in 1991.
Nominations for the Crowley Scholarship were submitted early in the spring semester. Finalists were interviewed by a committee of Crowley Scholarship Trustees, which consists of University alumni (including friends and family of Crowley), several of whom are past winners of the award.
For further information, go to www.crowleyscholarship.com.
This story was originally published on UVA Today April 4, 2023.
