He racks up the points on court and in class

The 2012-2013 basketball season was over for James Zuccaro and the College of Mount Saint Vincent (CMSV) Dolphins. But Zuccaro was still itching to play.

So in 2013, he enlisted in an intramural game at CMSV.

It proved to be a costly appearance, as Zuccaro tore his ACL and meniscus on his left knee and was forced to sit out the entire 2013-2014 basketball season for the Dolphins. Still, the injury might have been a blessing in disguise.

Although he always placed importance in his education, Zuccaro believes sitting out an entire year forced him to focus even more on his academics. 

That notion was validated on June 26 when Zuccaro was named the Skyline Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year — given to the member of the All-Skyline First Team with the highest grade point average — for the 2014-2015 basketball season. 

“I knew I wasn’t the best athlete, but I knew that if I had a higher GPA, that would help me get into college,” Zuccaro said. “I would say it started around high school, because basketball was the dream. But I knew that academics would make me more recruitable.”

While playing community college basketball in Arizona, Zuccaro was able to turn his excellent grades and basketball skills into both an academic and a sports scholarship to play Division III basketball at CMSV. From the academic standpoint, Zuccaro lived up to his scholarship, graduating this year with a 3.6 GPA and a degree in sociology, with a minor in communications. 

Alfred D’Anca, the head of the sociology department at CMSV, served as Zuccaro’s academic advisor and had him as a student in several classes. For Professor D’Anca, Zuccaro exemplified what a student-athlete should be. 

“He is a student-athlete where student comes first,” he said. “I always saw him as a person who had magnetic force with people around him. Very unassuming, a very down to earth young fella.” 

Post-game ritual