Rutgers-Newark Athletics

By Jim Hague

As a youngster growing up in his native town of Alchevsk in the Ukraine, Ihor Akinshyn never dreamed of becoming a college volleyball player in the United States.

“It really wasn’t my original intention,” Akinshyn said. “But once I learned of the opportunity, I became very interested.”

In 1991, then Rutgers-Newark volleyball coach Bob Bertucci reached all ends of the globe to find top-flight volleyball players. He ended up in the Ukraine to recruit two players, namely Akinshyn and his good friend Gennady Schevenko.

“It was pretty difficult for me, because I didn’t speak any English,” Akinshyn said. “We first came to the United States in 1991 and went to Massachusetts, a rural part of Massachusetts. So when we came to Newark, it was totally different. At that time, Newark was a pretty rough place. That was so totally unexpected.”

While Schevenko knew a little English, his friend knew not a single word.

“So I had to enroll in the ESL program at Rutgers first,” Akinshyn said. “That’s where I spent the first semester, just learning English. I passed the exam after the first semester and I joined the full program soon after.”

Still, being all way the way around the globe away from home had to be a tough transition.

“The volleyball team was very helpful,” Akinshyn said. “I felt very comfortable with them. Gennady was also a big help. We worked together as a team. He helped me with my studies because he was better with English. I was glad to have someone I could go through this with. But volleyball was a good equalizer.”

At first, Akinshyn didn’t exactly make a splash. As a freshman, he was more of a role player off the bench.

“But the first tournament we played in, Coach (Bertucci) put me in,” Akinshyn said. “We were losing the game against George Mason. He put me in and we came back to win.”

From that point on, Akinshyn re-wrote the Rutgers-Newark men’s volleyball record books. He would become the school’s first-ever All-American in 1992.

“The success I had was totally unexpected,” Akinshyn said. “I just wanted to do my job to help the team. I didn’t think much of what I was doing, but it worked out real well.”

When Akinshyn was named to the AVCA All-America team in 1992, he didn’t realize the significance of the honor.

“Coach (Bertucci) told me one day as we were going into the Robeson Center,” Akinshyn said. “I didn’t know what it meant. He even asked me if I knew what it means and I really didn’t. It was completely unexpected.”

Akinshyn said that he received a lot of support from a former R-N volleyball player, also from the Ukraine, named Nestor Paslawsky.

“He played for the original Rutgers-Newark volleyball team in the late 1970s,” Akinshyn said. “I knew the program had a good history and I just tried to keep the legacy going.”

The Scarlet Raiders won 25 matches in both Akinshyn’s sophomore and junior seasons. In 1992, when Akinshyn was All-America, the team went to the EIVA title match before losing to Penn State.

“Those were great times,” Akinshyn said. “We were able to do some great things.”

Akinshyn would go on to become the Rutgers-Newark Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1994, a remarkable achievement considering he arrived without speaking a word of English.

Akinshyn graduated from Rutgers-Newark with a degree in computer science. He has remained in New Jersey, residing in Mahwah. He does IT work for ExpressScripts, the mail-order prescription medicine firm that services 100 million people worldwide.

Akinshyn credits R-N and the volleyball program for leading him on the road to the rest of his life.

“It’s been huge for me, because when you think of it, the chances of me succeeding were so slim,” Akinshyn said. “I didn’t know the language. I didn’t know anyone except my friend. It was pretty remarkable being able to achieve what I did and make my life successful. It was a team effort, from the volleyball team to the people at Rutgers-Newark. I wouldn’t have made it without them.”

Akinshyn remains close with his friend Schevenko, who is working in the medical field in California.

“He’s doing really well and we’re still very close friends,” Akinshyn said. “We keep in touch all the time.”

All in all, it’s not a bad run at all for a kid from the Ukraine to make it big in Newark, eventually becoming a member of the R-N Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. He still ranks among the R-N all-time leaders in kills and assists.

“I never could have thought all this could happen for me,” Akinshyn said. “It’s pretty remarkable. When I made the Hall of Fame, I took a step back and really thought about it, how impossible it all was. I’ve really lived a dream.”