Jan. 9, 2008

by Tom Borrelli, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

This is one farewell tour worth watching.

Toronto Rock captain Jim Veltman began his 16th and final National Lacrosse League season last Saturday night with an 11-9 victory over the Chicago Shamrox at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

After this season, he'll join the Toronto coaching staff and stay with the Rock organization, which he has helped to five Champion's Cups.

"I want to be remembered as a guy who was honest in his play, who really did leave it all out on the floor, and not just to the Toronto fans," said the 41-year-old Veltman, who scooped four loose balls against the Shamrox to bring his league-best career total to 2,299 - 1,840 of which have come in the last 11 seasons with the Rock. "I want to be remembered like that by all the fans around the league, as a guy who gave his heart and soul to the game in order to make it better, something we can all be proud of."

Nobody has done it better than Veltman.

"Scoop" has won eight championships, the first three coming with the Buffalo Bandits. Until last season, when he was overtaken by young Portland LumberJax superstar defenseman Brodie Merrill, Veltman had led the league in loose balls in every season he'd played.

He's got a lead of 604 loose balls on the career list over Buffalo's John Tavares, who has played in one more season. Tavares, the NLL's career scoring leader, to this day maintains that Veltman is his favorite player in the league.

But numbers have never done Veltman justice.

"There are only a few special players who come along, like the Gaits, Tavares and a Veltman," said Rock head coach Glenn Clark, who was a teammate of Veltman's for eight seasons in Toronto. "He does all the subtle things all over the floor, like out-hustling people and getting into proper position every time. That's all part of his greatness."

I was lucky enough to see Veltman break in as a 25-year-old rookie with the Bandits. In an era before everyone was connected to the Internet, I remember mailing him copies of Buffalo newspaper stories in 1997 so he could keep tabs on his teammates during a year he and his wife spent in Uganda. He reciprocated with letters containing amazing stories about life and culture from a faraway place I could barely fathom.

Veltman spent five years in Buffalo, and the result was three championships and four trips to the Champion's Cup final. In the Bandits' 11 seasons since he left, they haven't been able to win a fourth title.

"I think I have a very healthy relationship with the fans," said Veltman, who is a high school physical education teacher at Agincourt Collegiate Institute in Toronto. "I expect to get booed on the road, but there's never been any real bashing or hatred. It's a mutual respect, even in Philadelphia, where they are very raucous."

Veltman will make his final trip to Philly on March 8. His other stops are in Minnesota this Saturday (7 p.m. Central), Edmonton (Jan. 19), Rochester (Feb. 9), Buffalo (March 22) and Calgary (April 19). His last regular season game in the Air Canada Centre is April 26 against the Wings.

"When you get an opportunity to watch a special athlete for a last time like him, you should," said Clark, whose Rock won a season-opener for the first time since 2005. "You're getting a chance to see one of the best who ever played the game. And fans on the road can even cheer for him. I'm good with that."

When the cheers and jeers stop, Veltman knows wearing a tie behind the bench instead of a jersey on the turf will be a big adjustment.

"The end of my playing career is going to be very difficult, I know that," said Veltman, who ranks ninth in career scoring with 627 points, third in assists with 476 and third in games played with 181. "Even now, it's really kind of scary to think about it. There's going to be a big void for me, and I don't know how I'm going to deal with that."

'On My Terms'

Veltman nearly walked away a year early.

He was offered the Colorado Mammoth's head coaching job after Gary Gait left to coach the women's program at his alma mater, Syracuse University.

"It got pretty serious, but in the end, I have to retire as a player on my own terms," said Veltman. "Colorado called and surprised me with a nice offer, and I certainly had to research it. But it would have been very difficult to change teams at this point."

Veltman's life has never revolved around the Almighty dollar.

He walked away from professional lacrosse for a season when he and his wife ,Therese, served an 18-month humanitarian mission in Uganda, helping to set up schools for children. They spoke enough Swahili to get by and slept behind mosquito nets during sweltering nights. They experienced Third World life first-hand.

When Veltman returned to North America, the Bandits had left him unprotected. In 1998, he became a territorial choice of the Ontario Raiders, who moved to Toronto after one year in Hamilton and won championships as the Rock in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

It took Veltman more than a year to return to teaching after the Uganda mission. Then the Veltmans spent six months on the toughest streets of Vancouver, providing help to the homeless. He has traveled to Brazil, Egypt, Japan, Australia and Thailand.

Even last summer, Veltman and his family - including 8-year-old son Kristopher and 6-year-old daughter Sara - participated in a home exchange with a Dutch couple. They spent three weeks in Holland, the land of his roots, in a small town about 30 minutes from Amsterdam.

"It was so much fun to see the way my kids responded to a different place and culture," said Veltman. "They learned greetings in Dutch and my son and I played soccer, which is very big over there, their national sport. After a few days, the Dutch kids rang the bell and called for my son to come out and play with them. It's true that sports are such a universal language."

The Final Countdown

Veltman knows his body takes longer to recover now than it used to. His aches and pains are sharper, and maybe he's a step or two slower. "Scoop," as he's nicknamed because of his loose ball prowess, isn't quite as automatic getting to the rubber any longer.

"I'm a bit worn down mentally and physically," Veltman said. "Sometimes it seems as if I'm on a different planet, mentally, from some of the younger guys, the music you listen to, the activities after the game and so forth.

"But the connection of playing the game is always there. I don't know what I'll do without that. I know I'm going to miss it."

Not nearly as much as it will miss him.

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Tom Borrelli is a sports writer for The Buffalo News and a regular contributor to Lacrosse Magazine and Lacrosse Magazine Online. In 2007, Borrelli became the first media member inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame. He has covered the NLL for 16 years.

For more on the NLL and from Borrelli, check back to LMO each Wednesday throughout the 2008 season, or contact Borrelli at tbwrite@aol.com.