Hall of Fame
With a style of play that earned them nicknames of “Turbo” and “Ice,” it is fitting that Rajesh “Ice” Venkatraman ’96 join his partner Jon “Turbo” Turbett ’96 in the Coe College Athletics Hall of Fame.
Turbo and Ice combined for a school record 52 doubles victories, which still stands second in school history. The duo twice qualified for the NCAA National Doubles Championships, advancing to the second round each time. They were twice crowned Flight One Midwest Conference Doubles Champions.
Raj ranks 12th in school history with 73 doubles wins, eighth with 80 singles wins, and 11th with 153 total wins over a four-year Coe tennis career.
Raj’s 30 doubles wins with Turbett in 1996 still stands as a school record as the duo earned All-American honors. During his senior campaign, Raj compiled 25 singles victories, which ranks as 10th most in school history. He was Flight Two Midwest Conference Singles Champion his senior year and his 55 combined wins that season remains the third most all-time.
Raj was also Flight Two Midwest Conference Singles Champion in 1995 and qualified for the NCAA National Singles Championships. As a sophomore, he teamed up with Will White ’95 for the Flight Two Midwest Conference Doubles Championship.
Raj got his broker’s license while attending Coe and worked as an equities and futures trader for Nations Financial Group after graduation. Upon completion of his MBA in finance from the University of Iowa in 2000, he was recruited by IBM to join their business consulting practice for financial markets and lived in Singapore for four years. Settled in New York City since 2004, Raj now runs the world-wide sales organization for IBM's Payment Solutions business.
