November 6, 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 Bill Tanton, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
"I don't know what took them so long to put Dick Watts in the National Hall of Fame. He's done more for lacrosse than just about anybody."
That was the reaction of Fred Eisenbrandt, himself a Hall of Famer, when he heard that Watts had been elected to the class of 2008.
Actually, that was the reaction of a lot of people who know Watts, the retired lacrosse coach and former athletic director at UMBC. Dick, who just turned 80, goes in the hall as "a great contributor."
No argument there -- especially when you know how many difficult jobs he filled, in addition to coaching his teams for nearly 40 years. Watts also needs to be recognized as a successful coach. His 1980 UMBC team won the NCAA Division II championship and he was named USILA Coach of the Year. In `79, his Retrievers, still a little young, were runners-up.
One well-known member of UMBC's national championship team was Joe Gold, who served US Lacrosse as director of special events for four years before leaving to enter business. Gold at present is also the development officer for the Federation of International Lacrosse.
"Coach Watts was an old-school tough guy to play for," says Gold, who now reveres his former coach. "He used to holler at us, `My grandmother in a wheelchair can run faster than that.' When he said that, you knew you were doggin' it.
"The whole time he coached the lacrosse team he was also UMBC's athletic director. He was in charge of intramurals and everything else that was going on in athletics. He never took a day off -- and he expected the same kind of effort from us."
"Work" might as well be Watts' middle name. When he was a freshman at Johns Hopkins, where he played lacrosse, football and wrestled, he was already 28 years old and married with two kids. He was also working in a gas station until 11 o'clock at night. Watts' head lacrosse coach and assistant coach in football was Bob Scott.
"Dick was a strong, natural leader, on and off the field," says Scott, also a Hall of Fame member. "Watts was six or seven years older than his teammates and a couple years older than me -- and I was his coach. The players called him Pappy to show the respect they had for him."
Watts was an All-America defenseman in 1955 and `56 and then became the coach at Baltimore Friends School. From there he coached Kenyon College, and then it was on to UMBC, where he has been elected to that school's athletic hall of fame.
As would be typical of him, Watts willingly handled a number of tough administrative lacrosse jobs. He was president of the USILA in 1974-75 and a member of that group's executive board from 1967 to 1994. He chaired the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee from 1981 to `86. He was on the board of the former Lacrosse Foundation for seven years.
In the late `90s, Watts organized and energized the Greater Baltimore Chapter of US Lacrosse. He served as president for five years, during which it became the largest chapter in the country at the time.
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. 6, 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 Bill Tanton, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
"I don't know what took them so long to put Dick Watts in the National Hall of Fame. He's done more for lacrosse than just about anybody."
That was the reaction of Fred Eisenbrandt, himself a Hall of Famer, when he heard that Watts had been elected to the class of 2008.
Actually, that was the reaction of a lot of people who know Watts, the retired lacrosse coach and former athletic director at UMBC. Dick, who just turned 80, goes in the hall as "a great contributor."
No argument there -- especially when you know how many difficult jobs he filled, in addition to coaching his teams for nearly 40 years. Watts also needs to be recognized as a successful coach. His 1980 UMBC team won the NCAA Division II championship and he was named USILA Coach of the Year. In `79, his Retrievers, still a little young, were runners-up.
One well-known member of UMBC's national championship team was Joe Gold, who served US Lacrosse as director of special events for four years before leaving to enter business. Gold at present is also the development officer for the Federation of International Lacrosse.
"Coach Watts was an old-school tough guy to play for," says Gold, who now reveres his former coach. "He used to holler at us, `My grandmother in a wheelchair can run faster than that.' When he said that, you knew you were doggin' it.
"The whole time he coached the lacrosse team he was also UMBC's athletic director. He was in charge of intramurals and everything else that was going on in athletics. He never took a day off -- and he expected the same kind of effort from us."
"Work" might as well be Watts' middle name. When he was a freshman at Johns Hopkins, where he played lacrosse, football and wrestled, he was already 28 years old and married with two kids. He was also working in a gas station until 11 o'clock at night. Watts' head lacrosse coach and assistant coach in football was Bob Scott.
"Dick was a strong, natural leader, on and off the field," says Scott, also a Hall of Fame member. "Watts was six or seven years older than his teammates and a couple years older than me -- and I was his coach. The players called him Pappy to show the respect they had for him."
Watts was an All-America defenseman in 1955 and `56 and then became the coach at Baltimore Friends School. From there he coached Kenyon College, and then it was on to UMBC, where he has been elected to that school's athletic hall of fame.
As would be typical of him, Watts willingly handled a number of tough administrative lacrosse jobs. He was president of the USILA in 1974-75 and a member of that group's executive board from 1967 to 1994. He chaired the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Committee from 1981 to `86. He was on the board of the former Lacrosse Foundation for seven years.
In the late `90s, Watts organized and energized the Greater Baltimore Chapter of US Lacrosse. He served as president for five years, during which it became the largest chapter in the country at the time.
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
