The Youngstown State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is pleased to announce the Trenton Lykes Athletic Scholarship to enhance the YSU Athletics Scholarship Endowment Fund.
The scholarship was established by Trenton Lykes who was a quarterback at YSU from 1983 to 1987. He was a four-year starter, four-year letterwinner and captain of the 1987 playoff team. The 1987 season helped launch the run of playoff appearances under then second-year Head Coach Jim Tressel.
Lykes led the Penguins to their first Ohio Valley Conference championship and first Division I-AA (FCS) playoff appearance as a senior. His record-setting performances during the 1987 season were rewarded as he was named the Ohio Valley Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
He set seven school and conference marks en route to being named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year during his senior campaign. He finished the season, completing 215-of-365 passes for 2,452 yards and 15 touchdowns. He averaged 204 yards passing per game. His 215 completions still rank second in school history.
As a junior, Lykes was nearly as successful. He led the OVC in passing and total offense, and was 11th in the NCAA in passing efficiency. He threw for 2,188 yards and 10 touchdowns.
A native of nearby Akron, Lykes finished his career with then school records of 543 completions, 937 attempts, 6,341 yards passing and 40 touchdown passes. He also averaged a school-best 176.8 yards passing per game and racked up 6,846 yards of total offense on 1,303 plays, also both school marks.
He was an inducted into the YSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.
A graduate of YSU’s ROTC he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1988 and entered active duty in 1989. During his military career, he served worldwide including multiple deployments to Afghanistan, Bosnia and Africa. He retired in 2009 as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Preference for the scholarship will be given to a minority student-athlete who displays dedication, discipline and contributes positively to the community.
Paul McFadden, President of the YSU Foundation, said the Lykes’s leadership is what helped lead the Penguins to the OVC title in 1987 and the program’s first playoff berth. McFadden and Lykes were teammates in 1983 for the Penguins.
“Trenton was definitely a leader and played a major role in getting the Penguins on the path to success,” McFadden said. “He had to follow a strict time-management schedule as a student-athlete being both a football player and member of YSU’s ROTC. He had a decorated career as an officer in the U.S. Army and has been a proud Penguin for many years.”
For more information, or to endow an athletic scholarship at Youngstown State University, contact Dan Kopp at the YSU Foundation at (330) 941-3211 or dkopp@ysufoundation.org
