Nathan Kenney has played many roles in his life. In high school at Detroit Country Day he acted the lead in plays like ‘Malcolm X.’ When he was an undergraduate at Virginia, he was a bartender and a bouncer, a student-athlete mentor and an intern at Black Entertainment Television.

In case you haven’t seen the 1-3 SU men’s lacrosse team this season, Kenney, a graduate student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, has assumed the role of midfielder. After three seasons and one national championship at Virginia, Kenney and SU’s leading scorer Joe Yevoli have headed north for one last attempt at an NCAA lacrosse championship.

Though lacrosse may be Kenney’s main role at SU, like at Virginia and at Detroit Country Day, it’s not his only one. Recently he added deejay to his resume. Every Friday his free-format radio show airs on WERW from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. – that is, when his lacrosse schedule doesn’t interfere.

If any format fits Kenney’s personality, it’s free-format. Kenney is white and his shoulder-length locks and earring match his free-spirited personality. Spend five minutes with him, and you won’t be surprised he could pull off Malcolm X at a culturally rich high school.

Kenney’s a chameleon that could thrive in any environment. That’s why his teammate and friend, Steve Panarelli, calls him ‘a contradiction of himself.’ He listens to hip-hop music, gravitates to people of different ethnic backgrounds and says a dream of his is to start a youth lacrosse team in inner-city Detroit.

When he first transferred to Detroit Country Day from Stony Brook High School on Long Island in 1999, the school’s star running back, Ashton Aikens (who played at Northwestern), welcomed him to the team. Kenney, a speedy wide receiver, played opposite Jeremy Battier (brother of NBA star Shane), but before the Division 5 Michigan High School Athletic Association semifinal game, DCD’s quarterback went down with an injury.

With no experience, Kenney was promoted to the starting job because he said he ‘could learn the playbook quickly.’ Two weeks later, the Yellow Jackets won the state championship in the Silverdome with its new option quarterback.

After his junior year at Virginia, he interned for BET’s Nightly News. As the only white intern on staff, he helped prepare the show’s Republican and Democratic National Convention coverage in 2004. After he graduates in May, he said he wants to work there again.

‘I want to be their first white host,’ he said. ‘That’s my dream job.’

Though the Orange is struggling so far this season, Kenney says he is having a blast. The laid-back atmosphere of the team fits him and he’s optimistic this season will turn around.

He also has hope for his radio show, which hasn’t aired in the past two weeks because of lacrosse commitments. During his first show, about 20 of his teammates flooded the studio to start the Nathan Kenney Era with a bang.

So far he said he’s been playing hip-hop and classic rock with some Motown and R&B mixed in for his parents listening on the Internet in Detroit. Soon he hopes to do some more creative programs.

‘I’m not about doing certain things to fit an image,’ he said. ‘I want them to fit my image.’

Whatever those things are, you can bet it’ll somehow fit Kenney’s image.

Tim Gorman is a sports editor emeritus and design editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear weekly. You can e-mail him at tpgorman@syr.edu.

Published on March 21, 2006 at 12:00 pm