Jesuit Dallas Athletics

A two-time team captain and three-year letterman, Rich Wachsman was the star defender on an outstanding Jesuit Dallas soccer unit that ripped through the competition for three years in the late 1980s. Named First Team All-Metro by the Dallas Morning News in 1986, he also was named the DMN’s Sophomore Newcomer of the Year. 

Helping guide the Rangers to a 17-2-0 overall record and a TCIL State Championship as a sophomore, Jesuit turned in back-to-back undefeated regular seasons his last two years donning the Blue & Gold, while ranking No. 1 in the Dallas Morning News Area Rankings for the entirety of both seasons. During Wachsman’s senior year, after which he was named First Team All-Area by the Dallas Morning News and First Team All-State by the TCIL, the Rangers posted nine shutouts en route to finishing the year 16-0-0. Only a loss on PK’s in the 1987 TCIL State Championship prevented the Rangers from winning three consecutive state crowns. An early developed talent, Wachsman competed for three years internationally in Germany, Denmark, and England prior to arriving at Jesuit.

Following graduation, Wachsman accepted a soccer scholarship at the University of North Carolina, where he started for four years as a stopper, sweeper, and defensive midfielder. His impact on the Tar Heels was immediate as he helped the team to a No. 14 national ranking and an NCAA postseason berth. Selected as a team captain for his junior and senior seasons, Wachsman again paced UNC to the NCAA Tournament in 1990, while he copped First Team All-ACC honors as a senior. Three games removed from the end of his final year, Wachsman’s post-collegiate aspirations were dashed as he broke his tibia and fibula. 

Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1991, he was the recipient of the UNC Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award, which is one of the University’s highest honors and is given in recognition of outstanding academic and athletic achievement, exemplary of the student-athlete and representative of the ideas of Carolina athletics.