Ronald (B.S., ’97) and Zenarae (B.S., ’98) Antoine remember the day they first met. Dee Dee Dominguez (B.S., ’97), famed point guard for the Rams basketball team, was giving Zenarae, a prospective basketball recruit, a tour of CSU and its athletics program. Zenarae was visiting from Katy, Texas, and Dominguez thought Ronald (also from Texas and already known and admired for his leadership skills and welcoming personality even as a freshman football player) could offer some perspective and help inform Zenarae’s decision.
“Zena is already taller than me – she’s 6’2” and I’m 5’9” – and I remember she was on the steps of Allison Hall, so she was really standing over me,” Ronald said. “She shakes my hand and…that’s it. I was like, ‘OK, she’s not interested in me. I’m out,” he said reminiscing about that fateful day.
Zenarae remembers it exactly the same way.
“I didn’t give him the time of day,” she said with a laugh.
The following fall, Zenarae was back on campus as a freshman basketball player getting to know her teammates and classmates at a welcome barbecue put on by the Black Student Services Center (now the Black/African American Cultural Center). Ronald was there, too, and he immediately spotted Zenarae.
“My buddy urged me to go over and say hi to her, so I did, and we wound up exchanging numbers, which were our dorm telephone numbers because it was before cellphones,” he said. “It was a chance meeting followed by a second chance meeting and kind of fate.”
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Originally from Beaumont, Texas, Ronald was enamored with CSU when he arrived there on a recruitment trip.
“Going from the swamplands and refineries of Beaumont to the snow-capped mountains of Colorado, I remember it was breathtaking and an amazing place, so I chose CSU instead of staying in Texas or going to Louisiana where I was also being recruited.”
Zenarae grew up about 100 miles west of Ronald and, as a self-described “nerdy tall girl who liked sports,” was weighing whether she should play basketball at Baylor University in Texas or become a Ram.
“My father has three degrees from the Colorado School of Mines and the CSU basketball coach at the time was Greg Williams who had played at Rice University in Houston and was recruiting a lot of Texas students to CSU. All that really piqued my interest” she said. “I chose CSU because the campus was beautiful, academically it was sound, and there were great coaches and staff. For me, it was a fit.”
As athletes – Ronald was a wide receiver/kick return football player and Zenarae was a forward for the women’s basketball team – arriving at CSU in the mid-90s was the opportunity of a lifetime that resulted in experiences neither would ever forget, and both players participated in games, seasons, and with leadership that to this day remain legendary in Rams history.
“I have some of the most amazing memories from CSU,” Ronald said. “Beating Arizona at their place was one of those awesome nights. I remember getting off the bus back at CSU and students were waiting and cheering for us. I know a lot of CSU people will always remember that.”
Being coached by Sonny Lubick, beating the University of Wyoming when the teams were still in the Western Athletic Conference, and winning two conference championships as a player (he would help lead the Rams to a third championship as a coach), were all highlights of Ronald’s career with the Rams. But Ronald also cites how a special relationship with then-University President Dr. Albert C. Yates helped him to see how being a student athlete was about more than the game.
“Dr. Yates was someone to aspire to,” Ronald said. “Whenever he would come around for meals or when we were traveling, it felt like he would seek me out. He would tell me how our teams’ success was helping the University and how we were part of the ‘Front Door.’ I saw that as a great opportunity because you’re not just playing football, you’re an ambassador for the state school of Colorado. It was a source of pride.”
Zenarae, too, felt that sense of fulfillment stirring in her whenever she stepped on the court and, like Ronald, relished the opportunities being a student athlete afforded her – traveling around the country and seeing places she’d only ever heard of, playing with Becky Hammon (B.S., ’00), winning two league titles, and making two NCAA appearances – it was a special time when she was contributing to and helping build the Ram Pride that continues to this day.
“The 90s were a heyday for Rams sports, and I’m most proud of helping grow CSU basketball where we started with only a couple hundred fans and then, by the time I graduated, having thousands,” Zenarae said. “Bringing people into Moby Arena to cheer on women’s sports and our coaches and staff, it’s still a top tier University and program and I’m proud that I was a part of that.”
As Zenarae and Ronald’s athletic careers continued to flourish, so did their relationship. Zenarae introduced Ronald to camping and the outdoors, and Ronald helped Zenarae see her worth as a woman of color in sports. Ronald helped advocate for women’s sports and Zenarae encouraged Ronald as he went from CSU football player to CSU football coach. They savored the good times and leaned on each other during the hard times. And though there might have been some joking at their height difference, it never got in their way.
“I’ve always been the small guy, but I never knew it,” Ronald said with his trademark confidence.
“My personality is so strong people knew if they said anything [about our height difference] to my face it wouldn’t be good, but at one point I asked if it bothered him that I was taller. He said, ‘That’s your issue. Not mine.’ I thought, ‘damn, that’s cold.’” Zenarae said with a laugh, adding that Ronald’s charm always gets her.
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Being away from home, earning degrees, playing Division 1 college sports, not to mention trying to figure out the people they would become, would be enough pressure to end most relationships, but Zenarae and Ronald thrived. They attribute the strength of their relationship to a phrase coined by Ronald’s mother: “You guys finished growing up together.”
“Because we grew up together, we are able to work through the stressors a lot better and we’re forced to communicate,” Zenarae said. “There’s a level of grittiness that comes with that and you learn how to work together. To this day, there’s not a week that goes by where we don’t fist bump each other. We’re a team.”
That ability to work together has come in handy over the years. After graduating from CSU, they both made coaching their careers and have collectively coached at schools inAlabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. Despite the challenges of being apart during their respective seasons, especially after having kids, Ronald and Zenarae both profess how rewarding coaching has been.
“As a player, it was all about the competition, but now it’s about wanting to help my players take advantage of their opportunities and get better as players and as people,” Ronald said, adding how he’s been surprised at the impression he’s made on players. “One of my players from Alabama wrote a book and he dedicated one of the chapters to me. To have such an impact that he would do that – it’s a deep connection.”
For Zenarae, who is currently the head coach for Texas State and was named the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, being able to watch and help her players grow during their own formative years is what makes it all worthwhile.
“I love being able to give back to a sport that has given me a lot of peace in my life. That might sound strange, but sports allow you to be your authentic self and that’s not something all young women have the opportunity to do,” Zenarae said. “Being able to coach and foster that for young women is the best feeling ever and very rewarding. I’ve been coaching for 20-plus years now and have been fortunate to have always been at Division 1 schools. I’ll keep doing it as long as I have the passion for it.”
For now, Ronald, Zenarae, and their three sons (two of which are twins), are settled in Texas. After an illustrious college coaching career, Ronald made the decision to become a Fitness and Wellness teacher and a football and track coach at the high school where his sons are. With their twins being formidable athletes in their own right, he’s excited to be both their father and coach, and maybe even see them become Rams.
“We took them to a game at CSU and they are dying to go back, so we’re getting them all the gear and are definitely pushing CSU,” Zenarae said. “We want them to know there’s possibilities outside of Texas and that Colorado is a great place to be, just as long as it’s not Boulder.”
Even if their sons don’t end up making CSU their alma mater, and even though there have been times when they’ve coached against the Rams, they hold their CSU memories and experiences as close as they hold each other.
“CSU has been a big part of our lives, from the coaches who coached us to the teachers who taught us to the friends we still keep in touch with,” Ronald said. “All the things we got to experience through athletics and CSU was a great experience. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll get to go back and coach there again.”
Zenarae added that she found a partner for life at CSU that has lasted for 31 years and she wouldn’t want to be living, learning, or growing with anyone else.
“There would be no Ronald and Zena without CSU,” she succinctly concluded.
