Who is the greatest lacrosse player of all time?

[Daniel Morris]

Dan-Yorktown and Lakeland (and I guess Mahopac later on) were just too far ahead of everyone else in Section 1 (and they still are). Nyack and Suffern (Darn them!) would turn out some kids every so often-speaking of that-Graf brought up Timmy Goldstein-great feeder, but Hess was simply incredible. In h.s. he did everything-he would simply motor by people without looking like he was giving any effort (sort of like Rod Carew). I have seen this guy so much in h.s and college it's hard not to throw him in with the list of the greastest ever. When Hess graduated, the Rockland/Westchester paper (Journal News) had a full blown characture of the guy on the front page-not of the sports section but THE WHOLE PAPER! It had his career stats-some of which I thought were statisically impossible to obtain. Dan do you remember this?

Of course I remember Hess. Not the paper, but the player. I remember going into the game thinking he wasn't that great, but he still racked up a ton of assists and he was pretty closely guarded. I was always more of a Kavovit guy. His feeding was the stuff of legends.

[Rob Graff]

PP

Hess had two other amazing attackmen around him and great middies. Doesn't minimize his talent, but suggests that teams could not focus on just stopping him.

In contrast, Timmy G had Paul Schimoler at goal, and that's about it. All the other players were good, not great. He - I would argue - singlehandedly - took the Cornell team to the national final.

Rob

[byualum]

Didn't Tim Goldstein have a brother...maybe Dennis (I'm too lazy to look it up), that played at UNC and won a NC in the early 1990's?

If memory serves they beat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome for the championship. Seems like Dennis played a very similar style on attack to his older brother.

[Rob Graff]

Right on the Money.

Confession time - I was Tim's teammate in HS, and remember Dennis as his "punky" kid brother. Dennis is a great player, and I recall did win a championship.

One of my best college memories was playing against Tim when he was at cornell, and holding him below his season average. He told me (I didn't check) that I had held him to the fewest points in a game - I responded that it was then his turn to buy the next round (and yes we were 21 and we were not in season.)

Rob

[OldGold]

Best player that I ever saw was Frank Urso. Played HS lax at Brentwood on LI and went on to earn 4 first team AA at Maryland (1973-1976). Had incredible quickness and speed and a laser guided shot from just about anywhere inside the restraining line.

[lax is cool]

With no doubt, Justin Combs.

[CougarCrushers Anonymous]

I just saw all of the votes for best MDIA player of all -time and lost as to how no one mentioned M.J. (no last name needed.) He was 1st -team all tournament 3 years, shot the ball 100 mph (literally), played nasty D and could break off somone in a phone both.


Shout out to the Jigga man.

[PigPen]

I had to think about Coach Graf's reply-at first I thought that he was talking about Hess in h.s., but aftert thinking about the nyack attackmen that were there at the same time, I realized Graf meant college-i mean after all Greg Tully and "wierd" Al Yankovic (yes that really was his name) were not that good of attackmen, at least not Hubbard and Massey special.

As for Dennis G.-UNC beat Towson up in the dome in '91-one of my Tony's Tavern teammates played in that game.

and yes-Dan I thought Kavovit was a stud, he just never got any credit, or least the credit he deserved. Speaking of good players, and Section 1-I am surprised no one mentioned Ric Beardsley, maybe not in the greatest player category but definitely in the character category who had some major skill. And what about Rob Doerr or Brain Kuczma? Not too shabby either.

[laxfan25]

I just saw all of the votes for best MDIA player of all -time and lost as to how no one mentioned M.J. (no last name needed.) He was 1st -team all tournament 3 years, shot the ball 100 mph (literally), played nasty D and could break off somone in a phone both.


Shout out to the Jigga man.

When did Michael Jordan ever play lacrosse?? Granted, he's a great athlete, but we're talking about lax here!

[Bluevelvet]

I just saw all of the votes for best MDIA player of all -time and lost as to how no one mentioned M.J. (no last name needed.) He was 1st -team all tournament 3 years, shot the ball 100 mph (literally), played nasty D and could break off somone in a phone both.

When did Michael Jordan ever play lacrosse?? Granted, he's a great athlete, but we're talking about lax here!

Apparently, not everyone was paying attention between 2001 and 2004. The MDIA's MJ was the best middie that I have seen.

[Dan Wishengrad]

It is hard to argue with Gary Gait as the best ever, given all his accomplishments at the college, international and professional levels and considering the longetivity of his brilliant career.

But the most dominant player I ever saw in my 30 years of watching lacrosse was Kevin Alexander of Victoria in the early 1980s. But injuries cut Alexander's career short, and I certainly wouldn't say he was the best ever or even on my personal Top Ten list. But for a few short seasons while he was still healthy, the guy was truly amazing...

[laxfan25]

I just saw all of the votes for best MDIA player of all -time and lost as to how no one mentioned M.J. (no last name needed.) He was 1st -team all tournament 3 years, shot the ball 100 mph (literally), played nasty D and could break off somone in a phone both.

When did Michael Jordan ever play lacrosse?? Granted, he's a great athlete, but we're talking about lax here!

Apparently, not everyone was paying attention between 2001 and 2004. The MDIA's MJ was the best middie that I have seen.

Yes, for those of us out of the loop, I was curious as to the identity of our mystery star. (tongue fully in cheek with the Jordan comment!)

[Andy Sharp]

It is hard to argue with Gary Gait as the best ever, given all his accomplishments at the college, international and professional levels and considering the longetivity of his brilliant career.

But the most dominant player I ever saw in my 30 years of watching lacrosse was Kevin Alexander of Victoria in the early 1980s. But injuries cut Alexander's career short, and I certainly wouldn't say he was the best ever or even on my personal Top Ten list. But for a few short seasons while he was still healthy, the guy was truly amazing...

I'll back you up on this one Dan, Kevin is still playing masters ball, I've seen him yearly in Hawaii and the Summer slam a few years back, he has the respect of his peers, you see it when "old guys" ask him to pose for pictures, a real class act from my interactions with him and his family.

[Tim Whitehead]

I'll echo the tributes to Kevin Alexander. When I was growing up, he was THE best player on the west coast. Unfortunately, injuries did cut his career short, but his career stats in box lacrosse look like this:

BC Junior A: 88 games, 332 goals, 286 assists, 618 points (including one year where scored an amazing 217 points in 28 games)

WLA: 203 games, 553 goals, 426 assists, 979 points (plus 402 points in 97 playoff games)

He's just one of many greats to come from Victoria...

[Bluevelvet]

I just saw all of the votes for best MDIA player of all -time and lost as to how no one mentioned M.J. (no last name needed.) He was 1st -team all tournament 3 years, shot the ball 100 mph (literally), played nasty D and could break off somone in a phone both.

When did Michael Jordan ever play lacrosse?? Granted, he's a great athlete, but we're talking about lax here!

Apparently, not everyone was paying attention between 2001 and 2004. The MDIA's MJ was the best middie that I have seen.

Yes, for those of us out of the loop, I was curious as to the identity of our mystery star. (tongue fully in cheek with the Jordan comment!)

I'll give you a hint. He played for Sonoma St and was MDIA tournament MVP.