Lacrosse Cool Then and Now, the 1970s

Photo: 1976, Cornell Hall of Famer Eamon McEneaney against an unknown Hopkins defender

The other day I started sharing about the purchase of my first lacrosse stick in 1976 and the conundrum of traditional pockets when you know nothing about stringing and adjusting them. In 1976 mesh pockets did exist, but they were nothing like the one I used my senior year at Syracuse or what players today are using. In 76 a mesh pocket was hard to break in and soft mesh, as far I remember, did not exist. Only goalies used them. In addition mesh did not give you the “cool styling and profiling points” that a traditional pocket gave you back then. Almost all the studs I followed growing up on Army lacrosse played with traditional. That was also the case for one of my favorite players back then, Hall of Famer Eamon McEneaney (Sewanhaka, Cornell). I first saw this All-American attackman score a punch of goals in route to a championship victory over John Hopkins on ABC’s wide world of sports. The game came on TV a week after the actual had been played. Today the definition of cool as changed and mesh is in and traditional is out—accept for in the women’s game. Can someone school me on why mesh is not used in the women’s game?

Lacrosse Pockets Then and Now: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Pocket