November 4, 2008
By now, you know their names. You know how they played, how they coached and how they helped shape the game that we know today.
They've helped make lacrosse for us. But what made lacrosse for them?
In the November issue hitting mailboxes this week, Lacrosse Magazine presents our profiles of the National Hall of Fame's Class of 2008. The honorees will take their place alongside the game's greatest figures in the annual induction celebration, presented by Bollinger Insurance, on Nov. 8 in Hunt Valley, Md.
Join US Lacrosse today to start your monthly subscription to LM.
by Corey McLaughlin, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
The first college to recruit Tom Marechek wasn't Syracuse or any other Division I lacrosse school. It was Whittier College in California, now a legitimate Division III title contender. But back in Marechek's formative years of the early 1980s, it was a start-up program searching for talent.
So start-up, in fact, that the Victoria Seasprays -- the Canadian indoor junior team featuring Marechek and fellow future Hall of Famers Gary and Paul Gait -- beat Whittier in a scrimmage when Marechek was just 15 years old. The small liberal arts college sent Marechek a recruiting letter not long after the two teams met, noticing his natural offensive talents for a ninth-grader.
Could you imagine, Tom Marechek, a starting attackman for the Whittier College Poets? At the time, the interest sparked Marechek's curiosity. In the seaside city of Victoria, British Columbia, where he grew up, college -- much less a full-ride lacrosse scholarship -- wasn't the norm for a kid like him. The Gaits hadn't yet attended Syracuse. The Canadian Revolution wasn't anything. More generally speaking, only three of every 10 people from Marechek's senior class would end up in college.
"At that age, everybody thought about graduating high school and getting a job," Marechek says. "It was rewarding to get a letter being wanted at a college."
A few years later when the Gaits were recruited by Syracuse coach Roy Simmons Jr., Marechek realized there were more possibilities than he expected when he began shooting tennis balls at a goal in his family's driveway at age 6. Suddenly, with his friends putting in a good word in central New York, moving from western Canada was now an option, but still in Marechek's mind a long shot. Even after Simmons saw Marechek play in person.
"I didn't hear from him for a year. I thought there was no way I was going to Syracuse," Marechek says. "I was going to sign up at a community college near my house and forget about playing lacrosse in college."
Camosun College in Victoria would have been Marechek's next long-term stop. He would have continued to shoot the behind-the-back and diving shots that he dazzled goalies with during a nearly two decades-long college and pro career, but would have done it indoors in the spring and summer, hoping to win a Mann Cup when he turned 21. That was what every Canadian kid who grew up playing lacrosse wanted to accomplish.
"I never dreamed of playing at the NCAA level, because I never knew that there was one," Marechek says.
Of course, he found that level. The subsequent success of Marechek and the Gaits at Syracuse (national titles in 1989 and 1990, four-straight All-America teams for Marechek) would be dubbed by some as the `Canadian Revolution.' It wasn't something anyone could really predict would happen. How could they? It wasn't something Marechek thought would happen.
National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2008: LM's Profiles
* Roberta Brennan: All Jokes 'Til Gametime
* Lyn Craunn: Craun-ing Achievement
* Pat Dillon: Clear Signals
* Tom Marechek: Hollywood Ending
* Chris Sailer: Playing for Chris
* Dom Starsia: The 'Frozen Rope'
* George Tracy: Street Sense
* Dick Watts: 'Pappy' Gets His Due
Nov. 4, 2008
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They've helped make lacrosse for us. But what made lacrosse for them?
In the November issue hitting mailboxes this week, Lacrosse Magazine presents our profiles of the National Hall of Fame's Class of 2008. The honorees will take their place alongside the game's greatest figures in the annual induction celebration, presented by Bollinger Insurance, on Nov. 8 in Hunt Valley, Md.
Join US Lacrosse today to start your monthly subscription to LM.
by Corey McLaughlin, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online
The first college to recruit Tom Marechek wasn't Syracuse or any other Division I lacrosse school. It was Whittier College in California, now a legitimate Division III title contender. But back in Marechek's formative years of the early 1980s, it was a start-up program searching for talent.
So start-up, in fact, that the Victoria Seasprays -- the Canadian indoor junior team featuring Marechek and fellow future Hall of Famers Gary and Paul Gait -- beat Whittier in a scrimmage when Marechek was just 15 years old. The small liberal arts college sent Marechek a recruiting letter not long after the two teams met, noticing his natural offensive talents for a ninth-grader.
Could you imagine, Tom Marechek, a starting attackman for the Whittier College Poets? At the time, the interest sparked Marechek's curiosity. In the seaside city of Victoria, British Columbia, where he grew up, college -- much less a full-ride lacrosse scholarship -- wasn't the norm for a kid like him. The Gaits hadn't yet attended Syracuse. The Canadian Revolution wasn't anything. More generally speaking, only three of every 10 people from Marechek's senior class would end up in college.
"At that age, everybody thought about graduating high school and getting a job," Marechek says. "It was rewarding to get a letter being wanted at a college."
A few years later when the Gaits were recruited by Syracuse coach Roy Simmons Jr., Marechek realized there were more possibilities than he expected when he began shooting tennis balls at a goal in his family's driveway at age 6. Suddenly, with his friends putting in a good word in central New York, moving from western Canada was now an option, but still in Marechek's mind a long shot. Even after Simmons saw Marechek play in person.
"I didn't hear from him for a year. I thought there was no way I was going to Syracuse," Marechek says. "I was going to sign up at a community college near my house and forget about playing lacrosse in college."
Camosun College in Victoria would have been Marechek's next long-term stop. He would have continued to shoot the behind-the-back and diving shots that he dazzled goalies with during a nearly two decades-long college and pro career, but would have done it indoors in the spring and summer, hoping to win a Mann Cup when he turned 21. That was what every Canadian kid who grew up playing lacrosse wanted to accomplish.
"I never dreamed of playing at the NCAA level, because I never knew that there was one," Marechek says.
Of course, he found that level. The subsequent success of Marechek and the Gaits at Syracuse (national titles in 1989 and 1990, four-straight All-America teams for Marechek) would be dubbed by some as the `Canadian Revolution.' It wasn't something anyone could really predict would happen. How could they? It wasn't something Marechek thought would happen.
National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2008: LM's Profiles
* Roberta Brennan: All Jokes 'Til Gametime
* Lyn Craunn: Craun-ing Achievement
* Pat Dillon: Clear Signals
* Tom Marechek: Hollywood Ending
* Chris Sailer: Playing for Chris
* Dom Starsia: The 'Frozen Rope'
* George Tracy: Street Sense
* Dick Watts: 'Pappy' Gets His Due
