radwanski grew up in new jersey and graduated from neptune high school in 1981. in 1999, he was named by "the star-ledger" as one of the top ten new jersey high school soccer players of the 1980s. in addition to playing with his school teams, he was a member of the wall atoms youth club. after graduating from high school, radwanski attended the university of north carolina at greensboro (uncg) where he played on the school's ncaa division iii soccer team from 1981 to 1984. in both 1982 and 1983, uncg won the division iii soccer championship. in 1983 and 1984, radwanski was named a first team division iii all american and finished his career at uncg with thirty-eight goals and fifty-six assists. while he finished his collegiate playing career in 1984, he did not earn his uncg bachelor's degree in business and economics until 1997, while playing for the greensboro dynamo