That Lacrosse Field Was Illegal

Ric Beardsley #47 recalls "That field"  where here played summer league in the Hudson Valley. As you will see below, 

Here another story in our summer league series written by Syracuse All American Defensemen Ric Beardsley.

That field was narrow and I think illegal to be honest because it was so narrow. The field served as a drainage field for the school grounds behind it and as a result it had manhole covers on it. I used to try and run opposing attackmen on to those man hole covers in order to try and make then fall. I am sure that field could tell so many stories if it could talk because of all the great players that played on it. It was a horrible field but it was like home for me for all those years. I remember playing an alumni game on that field and guarding Jim Egan the year he started @ SU and I de-sticked him like 5 times and I was only a high school sophomore. . . he was so pissed! But at the end of the game he was determined to have me play for SU and look what happened. Fans would back their cars up to the field in the parking lot that overlooked the field and sit on their tailgates to watch games. In high school I can remember my father sitting and yelling encouraging things to me during my games . . . That field is also the field where I learned to play the game @ all the levels that got me to SU and made me the player I became. Summer league then was full of sick players. College guys would bring their teammates from all of the top programs as ringers so they had a shot @ winning the summer league championship. That field will never ever be forgotten by me. The worst field I ever played on but the best field to have played on.

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

Story Submissions: We welcome story ideas and contributions. 

For more on Rick Beardsley: http://rhinolacrosse.com/main-menu/staff/ric-beardsley/

The Freeport Summer League

The U.S. National Team Helmet, The Ultimate Status Symbol In Men's Lacrosse  (Courtesy of Lacrosse Magazine) 

In todays segment in our series on summer leagues we go to Freeport, Long Island. I remember the first time I played in the old Freeport Summer League back in 1982. The site of an ACC team or National team helmet put the fear of God in the mind of an opposing teams without such lofty head gear. Coming from Westchester and Herkimer seeing National Team player Vinnie Sombrotto in his helmet on the team we had to play in my first Freeport game both thrilled and terrified me. Manhasset’s Ray Crawford grew up with alum from his high school who played at elite college programs, “it didn’t intimidate me at all. For me it was like another game against kids from rival lacrosse schools like Port Washington or Garden City [high schools].” Vinnie Sombrotto and I later became teammates on championship teams on Long Island Hofstra Lacrosse Club 1987-89, the New York Saints of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, and the 1990 U. S. National Team. After games I often went with the Manhasset boys to their town for some outrageously good sandwiches and muffins at the famed Manhasset Deli. I can still taste and smell one of their hot corn muffins wrapped in that white deli paper. 

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

It All Started with a Summer Rec Program

That me “the brown person” as my daughter would say 

My lacrosse playing days started in the summer in the mid-1970s.  Our physical education teacher, Don Daubney, a Springfield College grad, taught a lacrosse (soft stick and soft ball) unit every spring to his eighth grade classes. He followed that up with a summer rec program that lasted about three or four weeks. We learned the basics and once we had them down, the summer program culminated with a game against the Lakeland/Walter Panas rec program. Like my first Division one game at Syracuse against the North Carolina Tar Heels, I was both scared and thrilled at the same time. We faced off on Lakeland middle school field across from the old Westchester Mall on route 6. That summer league space would continue to have an important impact on my lacrosse career and that of many others. 

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

My Summer with Steve

The Lacrosse Field at Lakeland Middle School 

The summer before I entered 9th or 10th grade Steve Mabus’ family moved on my street.  At the time Steve played college lacrosse at Kutz Town State in Pennsylvania. I don’t remember how it started, but before I knew it, Steve and I started playing catch, shooting on goal, and playing one on one in his yard. Steve played in a college summer league at the Lakeland middle school field and started taking me along his game. I remember watching Scott Finlay (Yorktown, West Point), Scott Nelson (Yorktown, North Carolina State) and Bill Simunek (Walter Panas, St. Lawrence), Greg Rivers (Yorktown, Delaware) and Clay Johnson (Croton, Maryland) play. These guys were terrific athletes, with great sticks, and lacrosse intellect. Watching them provided a visual image of how the game should be played. Graduate school advisors once told me that I should apply to the best possible Ph.D. programs. She explained, “You will rise to the occasion in an atmosphere of very bright people and become a much more polished scholar.” The same is true with the summer lacrosse you watch and the leagues you play in.

Summer League Lacrosse Stories http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=summer+league

One Big Reason Why Syracuse Recruited Me

Tim Nelson against Army at West Point, 1985 

Perhaps the person that the Lord used the most to turn the attention of the Syracuse Lacrosse coaching staff was the big 6' 2" 200 pound attackman Tim Nelson (Yorktown High School). Our high schools played against each other back in Westchester in Section 1. We also played together on a Manhasset summer league team in the old Freeport Summer League after my first year in college. As a result of our shared history, Tim (Nellie) knew my game and knew it well. When I went to Herkimer as a virtual unknown player, he went as a highly recruited two-time high school All American who had played in two New York State title games to NC State. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the Wolfpack had a great lacrosse program that included Tim’s older brother Scott. At the end of his first year, State dropped their program and Syracuse offered him a scholarship. In his first season at Syracuse, SU won its first national championship in 1983, Nellie earned first team All American honors and he won the Turnbull Award as the best attackman in the country that year. During that championship season, I visited SU and ran into Nellie. He told me about the teams need for defensemen and then lobbied the coaching staff to recruit me based on what he knew of me as a high school player and my summer league performance. That’s the story of how I became a Syracuse Lacrosse recruit when most other programs and coaches showed no interest. 

The Nelsons of Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/09/college-lacrosse-recruiting-series-part_18.html

Club Lacrosse Then and Professional Lacrosse Now Part 2

 Perth, Australia 1990: Left to right, Steve Mitchell (St Paul’s, Hopkins), Fred Opie (Croton Harmon, Syracuse), George McGeeney (Towson HS, UMBC), Sal LoCascio (UMass), Zack Colburn (Penn), Mike Morrill (Hopkins).  

During my first two seasons with Long Island Lacrosse Club in 1987 and 1988, I did some serious commuting driving fifty miles one way to Danbury to work Monday through Friday and an hour, depending on traffic, to Hempstead where Hofstra University is located on Thursday for practices and on Sundays for games. Moreover, way games would take me as far as Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore in my car. Jimmy Burke moved to Tarrytown my second year with the club and he we split the cost of the commute. In short, playing club ball back then was a time consuming and expensive endeavor not including providing your own equipment and paying team fees and all travel and lodging expenses. But I loved every minute of it because it was unbelievable lacrosse! I was fortunate that my second year on the team, the first attempt to have a pro-outdoor league started. It was very controversial because many of us feared that signing a pro-out door contract would disqualify one from playing on the US National team. I received an offer to play for the New York team but I turned it town. But defensemen Bobby Vencak left our club to play for the Long Island Sachems in the pro league. As a result Coach Tom Postel moved me down to close defense which made me very happy (no more sprinting on and off the field as a long stick middie!). I also played next to DeTo on close D and learned a great deal from him and Larry Quinn in the process. The physical strength and savvy veteran club players in their twenties and thirties is far superior to that of the majority of college players. That’s one reason few undergrads make the US National team. For instance, the year I made it in 1990 we had only one collegiate player—Andy Krause (Garden City and Virginia). I believe my decision to play club ball down on the Island instead of the Pepsi sponsored team in my native Hudson Valley region may have rubbed the Westchester folks wrong like I was snubbing them. I made the decision based on my experience of playing summer league both in Westchester and in the old Freeport League during my collegiate days. The competition on the Island proved far superior to Westchester and I simply wanted to play with and against the best at that time. Certainly the quality of lacrosse in the Hudson Valley as improved, but the game on the Island in my opinion is still bigger, the same hold true in Baltimore. Yes bigger is not always better, but I think the final results showed that I made the right choice in deciding to commute and play for Long Island Lacrosse Club. As in jazz, if you have the chops, playing with the best, makes you better. This also true when comes to being a husband, father, professor, and author; learn from people who are passionate about getting better every day.

Leagues, Clubs, Tournament, and Lacrosse on the Brain

Madison Vasta (right) facing off, the daughter of my high school teammate and Air force Academy All -American Joe Vasta  

Its July 4th which reminds me of the Vail Lacrosse Tournament in Vail, Colorado. Over the years this has become an annual pilgrimage for those with lacrosse on the brain and lacrosse junkies. The Vail tourney, which has expanded exponentially since I played in it back in  the late 1980s,  also reminds me of the period in my life when I was lacrosse junkie and made what now seems like crazy decisions to play in some of the best lacrosse venues across the country back in the 1980s. For example, I lived in Westchester County and played with a Manhasset team in the old Freeport Summer League. In the 1980s the Freeport League on Long Island paralleled basketball’s Rucker Park Pro League in New York City. Because I wanted to play with and against the best, I drove 90 minutes one way from Westchester County through city and island traffic to play.  I also thought nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars on travel and food to play lacrosse in two Long Island summer leagues several times a week. Moreover I dropped more hard earned cash to play in the best tournaments of my era in Hartford, Cape Cod, and Vail and did not come from a wealthy family. The Vail trip especially cost allot of money for travel, lodging, food, and team fees.  Today some parents are investing loads of money and time and enabling their U11, U15, and U19 child so they can play in the myriad of tournaments around the country that have exploded since I played back in the 1980s. Questions I wish someone had asked me back when I played are: how much lacrosse is too much? Are you spending your money wisely?  Only you can answer these questions. I insist ours his a great game but like money its our attitude toward it that will determine its affect on us and the people around us. Take some time out and reflect before you sign up for another tournament or travel team.

U.S. National Team Alum Paul Schimoler's Passing and Legacy

Fred Opie,  Sal Lacossio, and Paul Schimoler (far right) at Homewood Field  Hopkins U, Baltimore 1990

I wanted to share this obituary I received this morning on the passing of one of my teammates. I played on the 1990 U. S. National Team with Paul Schimoler and with his brother John at Syracuse University. John passed last summer. PAUL SCHIMOLER (Essex)  -  Paul Schimoler died peacefully Friday evening, Feb. 15, 2013, after a short battle with cancer, at the age of 45. He grew up in Upper Brookville, Long Island, and attended St. Mary's High School in Manhasset, before Cornell University. Paul was an incredibly beloved coach, lacrosse player, husband and father, perhaps known best for holding the Division I record for most saves in an NCAA Tournament (85, in 1988). Others closest to him also know him as a bona fide chef/grill master, and for having a tireless willingness to help others in need. A 1989 graduate of Cornell, he was a four time All-Ivy and All American selection and the Ivy League Rookie of the Year as a freshman. During his sophomore year, the Big Red were crowned Ivy League Champions and were NCAA Division I runners-up in 1987 and 1988. In his final campaign, he was named Ivy League Player of the Year and was selected to the North-South team. He had extensive post-collegiate playing experience as a member of the 1990 and 1994 World Teams, both of which were gold winners. He was inducted into the Cornell Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2004. He was drafted by the Boston Cannons of the Major Lacrosse League in 2001 and played club lacrosse in the USCLA, where he was active in the national tournament circuit. Paul continued to be involved in club lacrosse over the years, notably playing for team Rusty Red, who enjoyed many championships at the annual Lake Placid Classic Lacrosse tournament. Paul would have been in his second season as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, after joining the staff in the summer of 2011. Prior to coming to Dartmouth, he was the head coach at Saint Michael's College. He was named the NEILA Division II Coach of the Year in 2011. He recently founded the Vermont-based lacrosse school "VTribe". Paul is survived by his wife, Lynn Ellen; their son, Jack, and daughter, Serena; sister, Ellen Kelly (NJ); brother, Steve Schimoler (OH); sister, Laura Reed (KY); sister, Mary Lou Cass (CO); and many nieces and nephews. Paul was predeceased by his parents, Doc and Bea; and brother, John. Memorial services will be held on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., February 23, 2013, at the Chapel of Saint Michael the Archangel on the campus of Saint Michael's College in Colchester. There will be an additional memorial service in Long Island, NY at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made out to "Paul Schimoler Fund," towards an educational fund for the children to: Branch Manager, TD Banknorth, 100 Center Road, Essex, VT 05452.

Paul Schimoler: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/23/sports/lacrosse-cornell-goalie-gets-his-shot-at-a-title.html [New York Times Article]

John Schimoler: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/08/syracuse-lacrosse-community-mourns-lost.html

Integrating the U. S. National Team Tryouts in 89: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/integrated-us-national-team-tryout-in.html

My Club and US Team Coaches: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

Cornell Members of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame: http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/list_by_school.php?school=Cornell%20University

2012 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class

Now National Hall of Famer Tim Nelson playing back in SU's first National Championship in 1983 

Here is letter I just emailed to my teammate Tim Nelson and copied to several other SU teammates upon hearing that he is now a member of the 2012 class of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame!  

Dear Nellie

I am both thrilled and extremely proud to learn about your induction into the national lacrosse hall of fame. As you may or may not know, this most likely would have happened earlier but an application that someone submitted on your behalf, a required part of the consideration process, had mistakenly been misfiled. It was only after Phil Sanders diligently followed up on what happened that I learned about this misfortunate mishap.  Perhaps it was fitting that the delay happened so that you would be inducted in the same class as fellow Yorktown High School and Syracuse alum Roy Colsey.  All I can say is wow! I remember Roy as a young camper at the West Point lacrosse camp following my junior year at SU. I would later watch Roy help his teammates win two national championships at SU when I returned to graduate school there in the early 1990s.  In closing let me share a link to several stories I have done on my lacrosse blog in which I talk about my now long relationship with you--dating back to the carpool we did to the old Freeport Summer League on the Island: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Tim+Nelson

Best wishes, 

Fred


The other inductees this year include: 

Brian Dougherty

Jesse Hubbard

Jen Adams

Missy Foote

Kelly Amonte Hiller

Cindy Timchal 

Recruiting and Lacrosse Networking

Hopkins Hall of famer John Detomasso covering SU Hall famer Tim Nelson in the 1983 Championship game  

You never know who is watching you so give your best effort during practice, at camps, summer league games, and tournaments. Coaches use their networks of friends, players, and alum to evaluate a player. As in my own case, many players that have come through Syracuse over the years were spotted obscure venues and recruited in non-traditional way by members of the Syracuse network that like most universities is extensive. Coaches generally trust the recommendation of alum because they have come through the system and know what it will take to play at a Syracuse. There is a place in college for most people play including some great Club teams.

Are You a Tweener?: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/06/are-you-tweener.html

Clay Johnson’s Impact Down Under Part II

Bob Henrickson, John Detomasso, Larry Quinn, at a pratice in Perth, Australia 1990

According to seven time Australian National Team Midfielder (wow, that’s got be a record!) and two time Adelphi University All American, Gordon Purdie credits allot of what he learned about lacrosse as a youth player from Croton native and University of Maryland All American midfielder Clay Johnson. I saw Clay for the first time in many years at the 1990s World Cup. During his more than twenty years as a player and coach down under, Johnson with his California cool looks, unpretentious, friendly, and caring demeanor, proved instrumental in improving the quality of lacrosse in Australia. I asked Purdie, what made Clay different from the many American lacrosse players who spent time playing and coaching in Australia at the end of their college playing days? He said “Brook Sweet also a similar impact, but Clay was different because he stayed in Australia for the rest of his life, he became one of us [an expatriate] and he got along with so many people, and the players loved him.” Purdie, who was named the best midfielder in the 1994 World Cup, goes on to say, “truly Clay was a legend and our link to American lacrosse. We learned how to play like Americans because of him.” Clay had the same impact on Westchester County lacrosse, when he showed up at game at our local summer league when I first entered high school, everybody knew who he was and took notice, and the same happened in Australia.

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

U. S. National Team: http://www.laxmagazine.com/teamusa/men/index

Integrating the U. S. National Team Tryouts in 89: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/integrated-us-national-team-tryout-in.html

My College, Club, and U. S. Team Players and Coaches: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

Recruiting, Part 1 of 2

Attackman Fred Opie during a home game at Croton Point field my Senior Year 1981

As part of my ongoing recruiting series I want to talk about the experience I had helping a fantastic sleeper complete a grueling recruiting process for him and his family. As sophomore, seniors at his high school received the lion share of playing time thus he went unnoticed until this past season and a great showing this summer. But by June most of the top scholarship and Ivy League lacrosse programs had verbal commitments for his class and had nothing to offer. So the scramble to find a program who wanted to court him started and I got involved the first week in July. The experience proved stressful for the player and parents largely because going through it the first time there are so many blind spots and unexpected turns and twist. One ends up turning in all different directions talking to coaches and visiting schools on speed dial and having one’s hopes raised and dashed in a 24 hour period. I went to high school with this recruits mom. My high school friend said that at times “I felt like we were all over the place talking to coaches, looking at schools [and] jumping from D1 to D3.”She concluded, “At the end of the day, I think a lot of it comes down to luck.  One coach sees you do one good thing on one good day.” More tomorrow on learning from a recruiting experience.

Recruiting Series:

 http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=recruiting

http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/09/dealing-with-rejection-as-lacrosse.html

http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=College+Lacrosse+Recruiting+Series

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.com/

The High and the Dream Athletes Experience

 Me covering Umass midfielder Stephen Moreland Jr. North Andover, Mass at Umass, Amherst in 1985

I loved playing lacrosse so much that I once suspended a Spanish immersion program in Guadalajara, Mexico to catch a flight back to New York to play for free in a club championship game on the weekend.  That was before the days of the professional Major League Lacrosse (MLL). I’ve seen summer tournaments in which MLL players come and play against amateurs for the love of the game and the high that great athletic competition produces. It’s the high every athlete who has experienced craves and causes you to have that dream in which you some gain another year of eligibility and your run around the house looking for your equipment before the team bus pulls away. Many other college athletes tell me that they have the same reoccurring dream.

My First Stick

The STX Barney which was similar my first stick, the STX 76er 

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Like your first kiss, any fanatical lacrosse player remembers his or her first stick. Mine was a red STX 76er with a traditional pocket, and by today’s standard, a heavy round white shaft. The head was the size and shape of STX barney accept it had three wide stripes at the top of the head similar to the 1978 STX Sam-which by the way made a lot of money for STX. I ordered the 76er through Varsity Lacrosse Coach Nick Padula. This was the summer of 1976. Pack in those days, coaches in small villages in places like Croton-on-Hudson served as the middle men between local players and the three lacrosse companies of that time: Brine, STX, and Warrior. Truth be told, the Warrior Company of that era is a shadow of the company on steroids today which is sponsoring the U. S. Men’s National team. Coach would put the word out that he would be putting in a mail order for sticks in hope of getting enough orders to merit a discount on the entire order. That’s how it was in those days. My town, which always had thriving youth sports, never had a sporting goods store. In fact, I dad had to take me to nearby Peekskill to purchase me first baseball glove and rubber spikes to play minor league. Lacrosse sticks in those days were like really high quality imported olives—most stores not only did not carry them—they never heard of them before; more on lacrosse commerce in the 1970s tomorrow.

Lacrosse Stick Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=stick

Lacrosse Pockets Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Pocket