My Year As Head Lacrosse Coach at Hempstead Part 2

My dad Fred Opie Jr. as a young guy in the Air Force. I am named after Frederick Douglass in part because my mother did not want a Fred Opie the 3^rd and both my parents had an historical compass that guided their decisions like their children's names

When I was the Varsity Lacrosse Coach as Hempstead High School, I will never forget when my father came to see one of our home games in 1989. My dad was old school, a veteran, a Sing Sing Prison guard for over 25 years, and the EF Hutton type. At the same time, he was a very wise guy and keen observer who would drop nuggets of truth which you could bank on. He watched me interact with my team during the first half and during half time of a game in which we were losing badly. Right after halftime he build me to the side and made a statement that still remember and which informs my teaching, coaching, and parenting: “You are arguing too much with them, just say what you need to say and that’s it.” My father made a good point, respectful give and take is acceptable but don’t get into peer to peer arguments with the folks who are not your peers. I often tell students, “I am not here to be your friend, I am here to teach you what I know and you need to learn.” I have become friends with former students and players, but I maintain a clear line with those I am in authority over that I am not one of their peers and they need to remember that when they address me. I've learned from students that my size and booming voice can be intimidating. So more often than not I spend more time encouraging students (and athletes I coach) that I am approachable especially if they have question or want to make a comment during class or office hours or need advice.

My Year as Hempstead's Boy's Varsity Lacrosse Coach

I closed yesterday talking about the mistakes I made as a young head lacrosse coach at Hempstead High School in 1989. For example, I held my first lacrosse practices before school to make sure my players attended their first period classes and I had dress code on the field to insure we looked uniform. Before you jump on my case, this was the late 80s and the Hip Hop dress culture had some of my players looking straight up ghetto with shorts and sweat paints hanging off their but etc. I tried to instill discipline in a new program but I tried to make too many changes too soon and some that frankly were not necessary. The seniors rebelled and I threw them off the team—these were guys who went on to play division 1 football and basketball the next year; one of them, Lamont Hugh, is the current lacrosse coach at Hempstead High School. I would love to see how Lamont his doing as the coach. Lamont had to be one of the quickest guys I’ve seen (including SU athletes). His senior year he earned the Long Island Player of the year award, parade All American as a quarterback and he had several division one football and basketball offers. As hard as it was to do, I kicked him and several others off my team which meant I was going to have tough road to hoe ahead. I regret how ran the team, but not kicking off superstar athletes who frankly didn’t care. As a coach you are hurting your best players when you play favorites with them. Just hold them accountable for their actions and bench them in big games even if it means losing that game. In the long wrong you will do more to help that player become a better person and you will establish a representation for fairness that help your program down the line. I was 27 years old in 1989 and I had a lot of lacrosse knowledge to share with my Hempstead Tiger team. The problem was I lacked the wisdom to apply the knowledge in a way that my players would have responded and matured into student athletes.

The Occupations of Lacrosse Players then and Now Part 2

While I played for the New York Saints, I taught and coached lacrosse at Hempstead High School in 1988 and 89. At the school I received great support from Buddy Krumenacker, Dean of Students and Head Varsity Football coach at Hempstead, High School. Among the students, Reggie Terry, who went on to Syracuse University on a Football scholarship, was a senior captain on the football team and parade All American linebacker. Reggie loved lacrosse and he knew of me from my playing days at Syracuse. Reggie came from a solid family and was wise and mature beyond his years. His classmates respected him and think he helped the other students understand who I was and what I was about. Both the football and basketball teams that academic year 88-89 did tremendously well with about four athletes earning Division 1 scholarships. In the spring about 6 of these superstar athletes played on my lacrosse team and all of them had played the game for several years before I arrived on the scene. These guys were incredible athletes and solid lacrosse players but with the exception of Reggie, they had a severe case of senioritis. Plus my predecessor seems to have run a lesser rigorous system and I came in young and foolish and tried to tighten the reins too much. More tomorrow

Pro and Poor: My Season as Professional Lacrosse Player Part 2

The 1988-1989 New York Saints of the MILL that I played on consisted of largely my Long Island Lacrosse club teammates and a few players from the recently established New York Athletic Club Team (NYAC) out of Manhattan. Notable NYAC players on the Saints included Hall of Famers Kevin “Cooker” Cook (Levittown Division, Cornell, 2x USA) and Roddie Marino (Massapequa, UVA, 2x USA). The Saints also had a lot of other very good players including my Long Island Lacrosse teammates Jeff “Whack” Goldberg a Levittown guy and good friend of Kevin Cook. Whack and Cooker both where both surfing fanatics and they had the same builds and used the same Brine superlight 4 sticks. Few players in my day played with that model stick. I later learned from Cornell’s Frank Kelley it was the perfect stick for faceoff guys. From NYAC we also had the very talented defensemen Darren Muller (Brown All American and the 1985 Ivy League Player of the Year). Darren was big, fast, and a great athlete who played with reckless abandon. He played like Dennis Rodman—lots of hustle and throwing body everywhere to make plays but without all the off court drama. I may have been a professional lacrosse player, but without my day job teaching at Hempstead High School, I would have starved, sleep on the streets, defaulted on both my car payment and my student loan.

Club Lacrosse Then and Professional Lacrosse Now Part 3

Part of a 1990 USA Lacrosse program

Our Thursday nights the team did line drills, full field passing/clearing drills and then scrimmage for the lion shared of the time. The scrimmages helped me a great deal because I played with and against some of the best players in the world. You would see some incredible moves, shots, saves, checks, and goals, but for me I loved the great passes. As a former attackman and Magic Johnson fan, I’ve always enjoyed a great assist. Over my career I seen some also feeders most them attackman; I am thinking of Tim Nelson (Yorktown, SU) and Tim Goldstein (Wardmelville, Cornell, USA). But there are not allot of midfielders who get the reputation as great feeders. Our club had two great ones—Randy “Harpo” Natoli (Sewanhaka, UVA, 2x USA), and Norm Engelke (Sewanhaka, Nassau, Cornell, 2x USA, Hall of Fame). Both these guys had a nasty stutter step that broke ankles, drew slides, and left folks open. Then they had the ability to throw look away passes that thread the needle to the open man who would end up one on one with the helpless goalie. Both these guys come from Sewanhaka the same Long Island high school that produced the great attackman Eamon McEneaney (Cornell, USA, Hall of Fame). I believe that great players work hard during practice. As the saying goes, practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. I was one of the guys that loved going to practice and loved watching my teammates do amazing things on the field. I was just a straight up fanatic who worked hard in the weight room, regularly ran, and seldom missed a practice. My philosophy was and still is, I will out work my competitors and do the little extra to set me apart from the pack.

Jim Brown, Lacrosse, and Black Authenticity

Jim Brown is an alum of Manhasset High School, a hot bed of lacrosse for a very long time. “I grew up in Manhasset . . . and I had the best education you could get. I lived with some of the richest people in the country, but they were good people. I took advantage of that education and I used it to make myself stronger and make me more than just a big, strong athlete,” says Brown.In recognition of his induction into Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 83 event organizers had Manhasset native, All American Athlete, State Supreme Court Judge, and Jim Brown childhood mentor and patron Kenny Molloy (1919 – 1999) present the award to Brown at halftime (more on Molloy tomorrow). Brown won 13 varsity letters at Manhasset including one in lacrosse where he earned all star honors for three years. Coach Simmons introduced me to Brown in the elevator of the team hotel before the game. At age 48, Brown had being talking about returning to pro football and he looked like he was in playing shape to me. For me Jim Brown’s induction to the lacrosse of Fame gave me street creditability in black communities. When black folks questioned my black credentials and authenticity for playing “a white boys sport,” and they often did and still do, I would answer, “Hold up, Jim Brown played and loved this game too.” Thanks Big Jim for getting me out of a lot of heated conversations about playing our game.

Playing Varsity High School Lacrosse in the 1980s

Cole Bender, me my junior year (Fred Opie), Adam West behind me, and Matt Mitchell. Croton Point Park Field 1980.

It almost time for the start of high school lacrosse practice here in the Hudson Valley. This time reminds of my first year on the varsity team at Croton Harmon in 1980. The seniors I played with in my junior year were a hilarious bunch, especially Cole Bender and Josh Stark. They had a language of their own filled with nick names, expressions, and saying that was incredible to hear on bus rides to practice and on away games. To listen to them play the dozens (playfully bad mouthing each other and their families) would have us juniors rolling in laughter. And poor Mike Spotto, his classmates road that guy all season long giving him such a hard time but mike was a great sport and hung in there because he loved playing lacrosse and he was not a quitter. The entire bunch had a deep passion for the game of Lacrosse and they had allot of talent. Adam West for example, picked up the game late in high school, but the guy was such a phenomenal athlete that he was good for a couple of goals and assists every game—even after smoking a pack a cigarettes a day. And the rest of players like Matt Mitchell, Josh Stark, and Cole Bender had very good stick skills and a solid understanding of the game. Perhaps this teams greatest assest however, was toughness. These bad boys loved to hit and they took no prisoners; I always felt safe knowing they had my back.