For the fourth year, black Issues In Higher Education is proud to present our Arthur Ashe Jr. Athlete of the Year to two outstanding students.

All of the students on the following pages were nominated by their colleges as outstanding scholar athletes. To be included, students need to compete in an intercollegiate sport; maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2; and be active on their campuses or in their communities.

After graduating from a small west Texas high school, Natasha W. Taylor had few doubts about her ability to succeed as a student-athlete in college. Her skills as a basketball player had won her an athletic scholarship to West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) in Canyon, Texas and her prowess in the classroom had earned her the seventh-place academic ranking in a class of seventy at Childress High School in Childress, Texas.

Though Taylor recognized that she would have to improve her ballhandling skills and develop a tougher mental approach to her game, she strongly believed that her academic skills and self-discipline would prove more than sufficient for success in the college classroom at WTAMU. "I am motivated to achieve. I've always set out to do well in school," Taylor said.

Named as one of two Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for 1996-97, Taylor has fulfilled the promise she showed as a student at Childress High School. A graduating senior who has majored in Kinesiology, Taylor compiled a 3,605 cumulative grade point average by the beginning of the current semester. After four seasons on the school's nationally-ranked Lady Buff basketball team, Taylor became the team's second al-time scoring leader with 1,877 points.

"She's a wonderful person and a great athlete. Natasha's as fine a representative of this institution as anyone," said Ed Harris, athletic director at WTAMU. Twenty-two year-old Taylor has established an impressive legacy as a scholar-athlete. She was named to the 1996-97 Division II Kodak Women's All-America Basketball First Team and to the GTE/College Sports Information Directors Academic All-America Third Team. Taylor has made both WTAMU's President's list and Dean's List for academic achievement.