Lacrosse In The Southeast (70's and 80's) - long

[OldGold]

I was asked to post this message in a new thread. Some discussion arose about Georgia Tech and their role in the growth of lacrosse in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I have often followed this message board and wanted to post about the ‘good old days’ and now find it an appropriate time to post.

I enrolled at Georgia Tech in the Fall of 1972 aware at the time that there was a lacrosse team there. My first exposure to the team was an exhibition game against a hastily put together team of locals who played the sport in college at an Atlanta Falcons Sunday afternoon game at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It was a blast and began my 30+ years involvement with lacrosse in Georgia. Our coach for my first few years at Georgia Tech was Kurt Knisely, who later ended up coaching at the University of Georgia from about 1976-1980. Kurt was a great promoter of the sport in an era when nobody understood what lacrosse was.

I have a few memorable moments of my playing days at Georgia Tech:

 Vanderbilt was the dominant program in the Southeast at the time (early seventies) and the standard we all looked to emulate. I remember them having a ‘tournament’ with Tech, Tulane, Denison JV and Vanderbilt. The Denison JV clearly out-classed everyone.
 I scored 6 goals against Florida in my first game at home in the spring of 1973. Georgia Tech played it’s home games at the football stadium at Tech at the time on a ‘new’ artificial surface. I do not remember ever playing Florida again.
 Kurt Knisely got Buddy Beardmore (head coach at the time from the University of Maryland) to come to one of our practices in 1973) to give us some pointers on the game. I had played in high school against one of Buddy’s prize recruits – Frank Urso who bacame a four time first team All-American.
 Our schedule in 1973 and for just about every year I played at Tech included Vanderbilt and Sewanee on a home and home basis and some schools that traveled through the area during their spring break. In particular, I remember playing Yale University in 1974 and hosting Hobart University in that same year. In fact, Hobart stayed a full week training at Tech in preparation for their season. I distinctly remember them their first day in Atlanta. It was an unusually cold day (about 5 degrees) and them wondering why they just did not stay in upstate New York. Fortunately, it warmed up and they had a great time. The Tech team scrimmaged them every day – it was a great experience.
 Some other schools that we played / scrimmaged against included William & Mary and NC State (when both were varsity programs) and watching the University of Connecticut play the Atlanta Lacrosse Club (again, when UCONN men’s lacrosse was a varsity sport). We played Duke as well a couple of times during this time period.
 Georgia started a lacrosse team in 1975 and we were glad to get the rivalry going. Being a big school with a respectable draw from some lacrosse hotbeds (Virginia, Maryland) they were very competitive from the start. I remember beating them in 1975 but loosing to them in 1976.
 High school lacrosse started in the Atlanta area in the mid-70s’s. There were four teams who played a regular schedule against each other (Westminster, Dunwoody, Henderson (no longer exists), and Sequoyah – DeKalb (again, another high school that no longer exists). High school lacrosse ended after about 1977 until starting up again in the mid – 90’s.

I graduated from Tech in 1977 and began coaching the team in the Fall of 1978. My coaching highlights:

 Our toughest opponent in my first year of coaching was The Citadel. They were well-coached and disciplined and I remember a hard fought victory in Atlanta in my first year coaching.
 We played Georgetown in 1981 (away, on an artificial surface on top of a parking garage) and 1982. We lost in ’81 and won at home in ’82. They were a varsity team in name only at the time, no scholarships and very little support from the university.
 We played Duke on a home and home basis each year. They did not have a lot of scholarship money available but were a very good team (coached first by John Espey and then Tony Cullen). Coach Cullen was especially helpful, helping us get equipment at discount prices back when there were not a lot of places to get supplies. Duke beat us each year but I remember being tied with them at halftime in 1982 and loosing by just the smallest margin of my coaching regime (it may have been 6-7 goals).
 The highlight of my coaching career was playing against North Carolina in 1980 when I believe they were ranked in the top five. They beat us about 23 –0 but the difference could have been a lot worse. I remember them putting on a ‘four-corners’ drill that would have made Dean Smith proud. Although we were beaten soundly in every phase of the game, Coach Scroggs from UNC was one of the classiest people I ever met; he was really interested in expanding the sport in the region and we left Chapel Hill with a lot of coaching tips and some leftover equipment from the Carolina program.
? I received permission to practice in late March during one season to practice on Grant Field from the Athletic Association. It rained heavily one day during that period and I was asked personnaly by Bill Curry (former footballl coach at Tech, Alabama and Kentucky) if they could conduct spring drills one day on the artiificial turf. Knowing that he could have just as easily denied us access, I appreciated his cooperative spirit. He donated a set of athletic shoes to the entire team for us moving to an alternative practice field; I'll always have the utmost respect for Coach Curry!
 I remember a tournament with Tulane, Florida State and Tech in the fall of 1981. Florida State beat us, Tulane beat FSU and then we beat Tulane. It was great lacrosse for the time in the area. I was especially appreciative that I beat coach Rix Yard of Tulane who was the AD at the school at that time. He was a long time coach at Denison.
 Clemson, Auburn and Tennessee started programs during my coaching tenure and provided competition that reduced our travel budget and provided some very good competition. As I recall, one of my former players became the coach at Tennessee in 1982.
 My last game coached at home in 1982 was against a new program at Davidson College (we won). I had my future wife in the bleachers at the time. She has been a lacrosse aficionado ever since.

My early association with lacrosse ended in 1982. I became re-associated with the sport in the Summer of 2003 when the East Cobb Youth Lacrosse program started a girl’s program. I am currently coaching a U15 boys team in that program and enjoy every minute of it! I maintain contact with my other coaches and some of my players through our annual alumni game. Lacrosse bonds never seem to fade!

I could go on forever about lacrosse in Georgia during the early years. Let me know if you have any additional observations or questions.

Coach Linskey

[Sonny]

Interesting stuff. I wonder what happened to all the college clubs in the mid to late 80's. Many of the teams you mentioned evidently lost (or folded) their club teams at one point along the process. Tennessee, Georgia, Emory, Sewanee, & Furman were all among the schools that had what I thought were new teams start or join the SELC in the early years (1988 - 1992). Some teams folded and have come back recently in the last few years like Furman. Some teams folded and haven't come back at all like Sewanee.

Glad to see that you are still involved with the game. Best of luck over at East Cobb.

[Thriller]

Sewanee has started (re-started) a club team up again this year...and so has MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) they will be scrimmaging a few teams this spring and are looking to become more organized. Both teams will possibly be scrimmaging Vanderbilt this spring.

[Downie]

Here is a little info on NC State lacrosse history:

1972 - First year the university gave the go ahead for a club lacrosse team at NC State. A year later, NC State grants varsity status to men's lacrosse. It was a rough first year as a varsity squad, I think they played both club and varsity.

1974 - Charlie Patch took over as head coach (had never played, coached, or seen a full lacrosse game before). He also stills teaches at NC State in the PE department.

1977 - Patch resigned before this season. This was the breakout season for State. We had a couple canadian box players come to play on scholarship. Stan Cockerton came that year (all-time college lacrosse leader in goals scored - 193) and was ACC MVP and all-american that year.

1979 - Made the NCAA Tourney and was ranked as high as 6th nationally (was ranked in the top 15 for the next 2 years).

1982 - Varsity team is dropped

After the varsity team was dropped there were a couple of very competitive club years, but it dropped quickly. I don't know the exact year we went into the NCLL but played there until '01 when we came to the SELC. We used to have a very heated rivalry with ECU and with the UNC club team. I remember my freshman year '99, we had a play day with UNC and ECU and guys came out of the woodwork for those two games. In the past we have played teams all up and down the east coast (deleware, pitt when we were in the NCLL, ohio state club team, etc). And usually in the fall Duke and UNC's club teams are on the schedule and Great Atlantic Men's Club. It is interesting that 2+ years ago, UNC would typically play a number of guys from their varsity squad against us (of course not sanctioned by their coach I'm sure).

[Sonny]

Sewanee has started (re-started) a club team up again this year...and so has MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) they will be scrimmaging a few teams this spring and are looking to become more organized. Both teams will possibly be scrimmaging Vanderbilt this spring.

Sounds good. I think we should take "a wait and see attitude" about Sewanee. They supposedly had a team 3 seasons ago only to fold before they played a single game.

I've often wondered about MTSU lacrosse. Why they couldn't support a lacrosse club at a large, state school just down the road from Nashville is beyond me? Glad to see the growth of the sport as always.

Sewanee and MTSU would be fine additions to the SELC Division B in future years and add some much needed geographic balance.

[OldGold]

As I said in my previous post, Sewanee was a stable and competitive program in the seventies. My last association with them was in 1979 when we played (I coached) at Sewanee. I believe things started to unravel for them at that point. Tech never lost to Sewanee but we had some close games.

I will never forget my first game there in 1973. It was some 'special' weekend and just about the whole school came out to watch the game. It was played on a field in the middle of campus in one of the most serene settings for a lacrosse game. This was quite a change for someone who had grown up on Long Island!

I believe the football coach at Sewanee at the time (Shirley Majors, father of the UT Majors Brothers) encouraged his football players to play lacrosse. As a DIII school, this was the best way for him to keep his players in shape during the spring. They had some very aggressive and physical players who luckily for us, did not know much about the game but played very well for new players. I do not recall a coach but they represented the school very well.

I'll keep posting as I recall things.