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| Paul and Gary Gait |
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| # 15 Stan Cockerton, far right (and unknown individuals) |
A key to SU's lacrosse success over the years has been the
coaching staff's ability to find diamonds in the rough in the most usual
places. Certainly the story of how the Hall Fame Gait brothers arrived on
campus is an excellent case in point. As the story goes, Coach Simmons received
a tip from either a personal friend or Syracuse alum about the Gait brothers.
They came from Western Canada which at the time did not have any players of
note who had played at any top program or put up the kind of numbers that they did
in their career at Syracuse. The Canadians of note that I knew of before the
Gaits has been Stan Cockerton at NC State and Dave Huntley at Hopkins in the
late 1970s (I would later learn about and play against Canadian Box Hall of
Famer and national team player Kevin Alexander). U. S. coaches had not yet
become convinced that box players could make the transition to the field game
so Canadians went larger overlooked until the Gaits with the exception of
Cockerton. How recruiting is done today at the Division I level is quite short
sighted in my view because it is gambling on young sophomore and juniors in
high school and overlooking seniors, post grads at prep schools, and junior
college kid like me. Today Syracuse is one of the few top ranked programs that
still makes room on its roster for non-traditional recruits like the Gaits,
Native Americans, and junior college players like me.
Fall Ball Series: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Fall+Ball
Canadian Lacrosse Legend Kevin
Alexander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_0NBMg_A8o
Stan Cockerton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-GOrL2Yo9k
The Gait’s Canadian Box Lacrosse
Roots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWd_SS3gQNU
The Gait Brothers: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=paul+gait
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