Varun Ram

Varun Ram Ramasamy^[1] (born December 16, 1992) is an American basketball player who played for the Maryland Terrapins. He is one of the few players in the NCAA of Indian descent.^[2] Ram previously competed for Trinity College and River Hill High School.^[3]

Collegiate career

Senior

On March 20, 2015 in his first NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament appearance, Ram made a key play in the final seconds of a second round game against Valparaiso. Crusaders guard Tevonn Walker made a free throw with one minute remaining in the second half, making the score 65–62 in Maryland's favor. Following a missed opportunity to close the game from Dez Wells, Valparaiso's Keith Carter attempted to take the final three-point shot and a potential game-tying field goal with a second left in regulation.^[4] However, Ram, who was primarily guarding him, smacked the ball away.^[5][6] He said after the game, "I've been envisioning this my whole life. And being able to actually do it, for it to happen, is amazing. I feel like it's a dream come true. A game of this magnitude, it's unbelievable."^[7] Terrapins head coach Mark Turgeon remarked that Ram was one of his top five defenders and he had confidence in him. He did not accumulate any statistics throughout the contest, though, because Evan Smotrycz was given credit for the steal.^[7]

Personal

Ram is the son of Kolandavel and Santhini Ramasamy. He is a Tamil and his parents were born and brought up in Tamil Nadu a state in the Southern part of India. Tamil is their mother tongue. They migrated in the late 80s to find a job, have a better standard of living, and support their family back in the motherland. His sister, Anita, formerly attended Johns Hopkins University and currently goes there for medical school.^[3] Varun has been considered the Maryland basketball team's smartest player, with a 3.99 grade-point average in neurology and physiology. Varun wants to go medical school ultimately, but after he graduates UMD, he wants to work in Medical consulting. He was also thinking of playing basketball for an overseas professional team or the Indian National team (unfortunately at this point however he is ineligible).

In addition, Ram is a two-year volunteer coaching fellow with Crossover Basketball and Scholars Academy (www.crossover-india.org); an organization committed to impacting education rates in India (Chennai at this time) through the use of basketball as a vehicle of change and imparting the skills of leadership, character, teamwork, and communication.

In his free time he enjoys hanging out with his friends, family and spends time with his Tamil family friends and the big Tamil community in Maryland and all over America. Regarding his Tamil culture, he is also a very active participant and organizer in FeTNA, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America and the Tamil Sangam of Greater Washington. These are Tamil cultural conventions for Tamil Americans to keep in touch with their Tamil culture since they cannot travel to Tamil Nadu, India all the time. Varun will go to medical school.^[8] Teammate Melo Trimble said, "Varun, he's probably the smartest guy on the team."^[5]

References