Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame

[Ken Lovic]

tomorrow night the Georgia Chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation (US Lacrosse) is having their first Induction Ceremony into their Georgia Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

The SELC has ties to all three men getting inducted:
Ron Mallonee- a Ga staple in the referee world. Anyone who played a game in Atl in the last 10 years had Ron at one of their games I am sure. Looked the Walrus Man! We lost Ron last year as many of you know to a quick illness.

Doug Horn- helped start the SELC way back when. Worked hard to establish the Atlanta youth program and even coached at Ga Tech many moons ago. The Offensive player of the year in the SELC receives the Doug Horn award by the way

Eric Rudolph- Mr referee in Georgia. He has been the assigning secretary for almost every college game here in Ga and the Southeast. Eric currently serves on the SELC board as well

I wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. Ron, Doug and Eric have been a huge asset to the SELC and I am honored to have worked or continue to work with them.

Sonny I am sure can correct me and fill in with more info as well. He is presenting Doug by the way.

[Sonny]

Thanks Ken. Here is some background all all three of the male nominees to the inaugural GA Lacrosse HOF class. All of them have ties to the SELC. Doug was also very involved with the MDIA.

Listed in alphabetical order:

Doug Horn

Founded the first ever youth lacrosse program in Atlanta in 1992 along with Eric Rudolph, Bob Frost, and Lee Rainwater. As I remember it, the Atlanta Youth Lacrosse (AYL) program was developed at Doug’s kitchen table and started with a meager 12 kids. (I know because I helped coach at some of the first ever practices and clinics.)

Doug ran the AYL for 4 straight seasons serving as defacto league commissioner, field organizer, & head coach before turning it over to Mike Butkus in early 1996. By that time the AYL had grown to include over 75 kids playing in the league. Many of these original AYL kids went on to spark interest at the first Atlanta boys’ high school programs (namely Woodward, Lovett, and Westminster) in the mid-90’s. Doug also worked with Dekalb County Parks & Recreation to get the AYL program officially recognized and the youth league coaches officially certified. This “official recognition” gave the sport credibility in the county’s eyes when allocating budget dollars and precious field space.

Shortly after starting the AYL, Doug help founded the original Atlanta Lacrosse Foundation. Just like the AYL, this organization was originally founded at Doug’s kitchen table along with Eric Rudolph, Bob Frost, and Lee Rainwater. The Foundation Chapter was a precursor to the US Lacrosse Chapter model that exists now and served as clearinghouse for information at all levels of the game. Doug served as Chapter President from 1994 – 1996, establishing a common interest board with representation from all areas of the game for the first time: men, women, youth, college, and officials.

Doug, a Dekalb County resident, was able to secure Murphey Candler Park for AYL play back in ‘92. Murphey Candler remains the home for the AYL to this very day. The facility has also hosted other lacrosse events (Georgia Games, club games) when Atlanta-area field space was tight.

Doug served as a long time referee over the last 15 years in an era when officials were few and far between. He officiated college and post-collegiate club lacrosse for most of the 90’s. He has served as a youth and high school official as well.

Additionally, Doug served other portions of the game, including the collegiate and post-collegiate games. He helped develop the Metro Atlanta Lacrosse League (MALL) for Atlanta-area club players back in 1995 with Ron Mallonee. Doug was the Georgia Games coordinator for lacrosse back in 1994 & 1995 before the historic ’96 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Doug organized 'The All American Lacrosse Game" which was played at Mustang Field/Murphey Candler Park on August 14th, 1996 (during the Atlanta Summer Olympics). A sold out stadium of fans witnessed a high scoring lacrosse game where every player was an All-America. Lacrosse Magazine featured a long article on the game. Lacrosse was a “demonstration sport” at the ’96 Olympics due to Doug’s efforts to put on this game.

Doug served as president of the college league (SELC) for 5 expansive years (1996-2000). Today, the SELC has grown to include 28 different collegiate club teams in 7 southeastern states from Florida to Virginia. Numerous high school players from the Atlanta area play for SELC programs each spring as they compete for conference and national championships/honors. In 2002, the SELC named the Offensive Player of the Year Award after Doug Horn for his service to the organization. Additionally, Doug served as national Vice-President in charge of the MDIA national championship tournament for college club lacrosse in St. Louis for three straight years (1999, 2000, & 2001).

Ron Mallonee

A long time men’s lacrosse official for almost 20 years in the Southeast, Ron passed away from cancer after a brief battle in May, ‘04. He died a mere 41 days after working his final lacrosse game on the field at the ’04 SELC Championship Tournament at Georgia Tech.

Ron was a college official (USL COC) for 12 years and served as a charter member of the Georgia Lacrosse Officials Association (GLOA). Based in Atlanta, Ron worked college and various post-collegiate club games all over the Southeast each spring. Ron earned the “Iron Man” award for working the highest number of Georgia high school games back in 2002 which speaks volumes to his passion for lacrosse officiating.

Ron was always very conscious about recruiting, training, and mentoring new officials as the sport exploded at the high school level over the last few years. Many of the current crop of boys’ high school officials was tutored and recruiting directly by Ron.

In addition to his heavy officiating schedule, Ron worked to organize the men’s club league in the South. He initially formed the Metro Atlanta Lacrosse League (MALL) for Atlanta-area club players back in 1995 along with Doug Horn. And he worked for the SouthEastern Lacrosse League (SELL) which organized the various club teams from around the south.

The GLOA has established a scholarship fund in Ron’s memory to help assist players and referees who exhibit Ron’s selfless attitude towards the game of lacrosse.

Eric Rudolph

Beginning almost 20 years ago, Eric has helped develop and organize virtually every lacrosse organization that exists in Atlanta today. He remains actively involved with a multitude of organizations at all levels of the sport, across both genders.

Starting chronologically, Eric first helped form and incorporate the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference (SELC) in 1987 which is the oldest lacrosse league/organization based in the South as far as I can tell. The SELC originally formed with just seven college teams in GA, AL, TN, and SC. As noted earlier in Doug Horn’s bio, the SELC has exploded over the last 16 years in number of teams, organization, and quality of play. 28 teams in two divisions now compete in the SELC. Eric has worked for the SELC for its entire history and continues to serve the SELC as a Director, Assistant Secretary, and Chief Official. He is also the League Assigning Authority for the SELC and was honored as the SELC Man of the Year in 1993.

Eric founded the Atlanta Youth Lacrosse (AYL) league back in 1992 along with Doug Horn, Lee Rainwater, and Bob Frost. He was elected as the AYL secretary and I believe serves in that role to this very day. The AYL was the incubator for the first ever boys high school lacrosse programs in the mid-90’s.

Immediately following the formation of the AYL, the local chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation was incorporated by Eric. Eric helped develop the local chapter with assistance from Doug Horn, Lee Rainwater, and Bob Frost. Eric supported the chapter’s merge into US Lacrosse in the late 90’s and I believe remains as chapter secretary to this very day. He was honored as Man of The Year by the Georgia Lacrosse Foundation (Georgia US Lacrosse Chapter) in 2002. Eric has worked for the local chapter since Day One.

Eric, along with Jenn Eames, Rena Whitehouse, and others, formed the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League (SWLL) around 1998. He incorporated that organization for women’s collegiate club lacrosse and continues to serve as a Director to this day.

Eric’s extensive legal background helped most of these organizations get valuable corporate status which shielded them from potential litigation.

Perhaps, Eric’s most important contributions to the local lacrosse community have been in the officiating community. Eric has been an official for 32 years and trained officials all over District V (which includes the state of Georgia) for many years. He was a founding member of the Georgia Lacrosse Officials Association (GLOA) on the boys’ side and also become a women’s umpire in the late 90’s. Eric helped formulate the National Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officials Association (NILOA) in the early 90’s. With the development of USL, NILOA is now known as the Collegiate Officials Committee (COC) of the USL Men’s Division Officials Council. Eric has remained a COC member since its inception. Eric serves as the Assignor for both college varsity games (District V) and the SELC. He has managed those roles for many years now during an enormous growth period for collegiate men’s lacrosse in the South. Due in part to his long service to the men’s officiating community, Eric was awarded the prestigious Bernie Ulman Award in 2001 for his varied contributions to Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officiating and to the Game of Lacrosse.

Eric currently serves as a Director on the national US Lacrosse Board representing the Men's Division Officials Council (MDOC) from four straight years (2000-2004). He also is on the US Lacrosse Men’s Division Board of Governors as an Officials’ representative and is the At Large Officer on the Executive Committee of the Men's Board of Governors.

[Sonny]

Some photos from last Thursday evening's event have been posted online here:
http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prs ... t=00SM00KB

I will be writing an article about the event in an upcoming issue of Lacrosse Magazine.