Former TCNJ All-American signs pro contract in Taiwan
When The College of New Jersey basketball season came to a close in the NCAA Tournament last year, Randy Walko knew he had to pursue his dream of playing professionally.
Recently, came true.
Walko, who was a threetime All-Conference player and in his senior season he was the New Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Year, signed with the Formosa Taishin Dreamers from Taiwan, a member of the ASEAN Basketball League.
He capped off his senior season by being named a first team All-America selection — the first at the college since Greg Grant to attain All-America status.
“It’s really cool to have this opportunity to play professionally coming from a small college like TCNJ, as not many Division III basketball players are granted this chance,” Walko said in the TCNJ press release. “It his dream humbles me to know that I was good enough and had a successful enough career at TCNJ to earn this opportunity. I am extremely grateful for it. This is an accumulation of all of the hard work I’ve put in these last four or five years, giving everything I’ve had to this program. Being able to continue to play basketball in my future is unbelievable.”
It was an unbelievable career Walko had leading the Lions to the NJAC title.
Walko averaged 21.9 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, shot 45.6% from the field, 38% from the three-point line, and 85.4% from the free throw line.
He tallied 635 points, which was fourth-most in a single season in program history.
“As an entire program, we are just so proud of Randy (Walko) and everything he has accomplished,” TCNJ basketball coach Matt Goldsmith said in the press release. “He went from an underrecruited skinny kid from Somerville, to a starter, to a first-team All-American,
to a pro in the first Division in Taiwan. What a story! I know it has always been a dream of his to get to Taiwan and experience the culture there first-hand, and I could not be happier for him. He has earned everything he has accomplished through sweat and hard work.”
The Formosa Taishin Dreamers’ 2020-21 season is underway, and no doubt Walko will bring the same grit and determination he showed with the Lions.
“My goal is to bring the energy and effort every single day, along with the work ethic that I’ve instilled in myself the last four or five years,” said Walko. “I’m going to go in there and work my hardest every single day to prove that I belong there.”
“I just want Randy to know that the entire TCNJ basketball family will be following his career,” Goldsmith said. “We are so proud of him and cannot wait to see what the future holds. No matter what comes from this, he will always know that he earned the right to call himself a professional basketball player.”