City Slickers vs. Plow Boys: The Beginning of the Syracuse Lacrosse Dynasty
2/13/2003 6:02:14 PM | Men's Lacrosse
<b><i>by: Kerrin Perniciaro, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications</b></i>
On Saturday, March 15, 2003, the Syracuse University Athletics Department, along with the entire Syracuse community will come together to celebrate the reunion of three very special classes in the history of Syracuse Lacrosse.
The emphasis will be on the 20th anniversary of the 1983 national championship team, while the 1988 and 1993 squads will receive recognition for winning national titles 15 and 10 years ago, respectively.
It will be a special day, not only since this year's team will be playing Johns Hopkins, a team that has defeated the Orangemen in each of the past two seasons, but because the Blue Jays were the opponent that the '83 team toppled for the school's first NCAA title 20 years ago. It was a contest that local witnesses claim to be the greatest lacrosse game they have ever seen, even to this day.
SU's alumni weekend will get underway at 9:45 a.m. on March 15, with an alumni game/shoot-around at the Carrier Dome. A reception is planned for all lacrosse alumni beginning at 11 a.m. up until the SU-Johns Hopkins game begins at 1 p.m. Then, the three teams celebrating milestone anniversaries will be honored on the field at halftime. At 6 p.m. that same day, an alumni dinner is scheduled to be held in the Schine Student Center.
The NCAA will honor the 1983 Orangemen in five years, as they have done for every other national-championship team that reaches its 25th anniversary. We at Syracuse, could not wait another five years to pay tribute to the "gang that got it going." Last May, SU advanced to its record 20th consecutive NCAA final four. That astonishing streak, alive and well, began with a mindset, a belief in self, a trust in one another and a determination to be the best, by 33 players and three coaches involved in 1983. It was that particular team's character that set the tone for everything that is Syracuse Lacrosse today.
A relentless sense of pride has permeated through each of the program's past 20 seasons, taking on a life of its own and culminating into a sense of urgency that reveals itself in the month of May. No other program has, or probably ever will, be able to duplicate it. And so, following a year in which the streak stayed in tact for its second complete decade, and an eighth national championship trophy was added to the showcase, we take a closer look at the dynamics that occurred in and around 1983 that enabled the Syracuse Lacrosse program to lift off.
Perhaps the more important question that inquiring minds would like answered is how the SU lacrosse program has maintained its success. For these answers, we talked to the people directly involved.
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To put things in perspective, it must be pointed out that Syracuse University had a tradition of excellence in the sport of lacrosse long before 1983. In the 1920's, Hall of Fame coach Laurie Cox guided the Orangemen to USILA championships, or a piece of them, four times. Under Roy Simmons Sr.'s watch from 1931-1970, SU won 66 percent of its games.
When the head coaching reigns were passed to Roy Simmons Jr. in 1971, it just so happened that the NCAA sponsored its first championship in the sport of men's lacrosse that very year. This ushered the game into the modern era. Syracuse, however, was not a program that was flourishing. From 1973-75, the Orangemen posted a 9-23 record.
In the late 1970's, something began to happen. The local talent decided to stay home and play for the Orange. Tom Abbott, a high-scoring and well-known attackman from Fayetteville-Manlius High School was initially lured to the Naval Academy, but had second thoughts and transferred to Syracuse. He combined with West Genesee High School midfielder Kevin Donahue to help SU win 15 games during their first two seasons. In 1977, Abbott and Donahue earned All-America honors.
West Genesee seemed to have a direct pipeline to SU. Tim O'Hara, John Desko and Bill Udovich all attended the nearby high school and all went on to become All-American lacrosse players at SU.
The influx of talent started to produce results and in 1979, a mere four seasons after finishing 3-8, the Orangemen earned their first NCAA Tournament berth.
Another factor came into play when a new athletic director was hired at Syracuse University in March of 1978. Jake Crouthamel assumed the leadership post with a philosophy that every varsity athletic program at Syracuse ought to be competitive. His decisions would prove to be instrumental in improving facilities and allocating funds into scholarships for the program.
"When it became evident that we needed more talent, not necessarily better talent, just more players with talent, Gary Pickard underwrote with a contribution, I'd say four tuition scholarships, which obviously were used immediately," Crouthamel remembers. "Then when things were really picking up and that funding source dried up, we couldn't just take four scholarships away. So, I continued it. Scholarships were a major factor in the turnaround of the program."
The 1983 senior class, the heart and soul of SU's first NCAA championship team, entered school as freshmen in 1980. The squad lost just one regular-season game that year and registered some head-turning wins along the way against perennial powers Navy, Cornell, Hobart, Cortland and Massachusetts. In the NCAA Tournament, the Orangemen avenged their only loss of the season to Washington & Lee and took one step further to the national semifinals. Although, they lost to Johns Hopkins, 18-11, the seeds of victory had been planted, according to Jeff McCormick, an '83 co-captain.
"The '80 team had neither depth nor was it terribly experienced with 13 freshmen," said McCormick. "Yet, the coaches began to mold a young group with a move-the-hot-rock, run-and-gun style that became a Syracuse signature. It would be the first trip to the final four, an achievement now considered a right by Syracuse standards. By the time this crop of freshmen were seniors, they knew each other's every move and thought as one."
A mighty factor that changed not only the landscape of the program, but the landscape of the entire city of Syracuse was the erection of the Carrier Dome just in time for the 1981 campaign. The Dome afforded the team a place to practice during the cold, winter months. It could accommodate thousands of fans and it proved to be a tough place to play for opponents.
"I applied to Syracuse because of the Carrier Dome," admitted Emmett Printup, a sophomore on the '83 team. "At the time Syracuse wasn't known as a powerhouse in lacrosse. All I knew was that I wanted to play in the Dome."
It is undeniable, then, that the Carrier Dome seduced the nation's top players into pulling on an orange jersey. The best players wanted to play in the best lacrosse facility and in 1981, the Orangemen qualified for their third consecutive NCAA Tournament.
A year later, SU failed to earn a spot in the national playoff picture. However, the Orangemen won two tough games to close out the year. The players felt as if it had been an underachieving season and the ones returning vowed never to revisit that feeling of mediocrity.
And so this was the backdrop against which the '83 team emerged. The program had been slowly building momentum for seven years. Scholastic lacrosse in the area was grooming talented players, even though college coaches around the country did not know it. The best college teams were used to filling their rosters with guys from Baltimore, Maryland and Long Island. Roy Simmons Jr. had some of the most secretive talent in his own backyard. A few of the special CNY players tried the more traditional powers. Art Lux went to Army, but decided military life was not for him. Defenseman Mark Wenham and goalie Travis Solomon transferred back home after short stints elsewhere.
A little luck never hurts either and Syracuse hit the jackpot in 1983 when Tim Nelson, from Yorktown, decided to transfer to SU after his North Carolina State program was declared defunct.
"Clearly, the development of scholastic lacrosse in Central New York was the key to total turnaround," says Crouthamel. "On that '83 team, people were scratching their heads. 'How did they get such a turnaround in a relatively short period of time?' And so they start looking at our roster. It was very evident that the talent was coming from Central New York. The '83 team was really the reason, the beginning of mass recruiting in Central New York by the best college lacrosse schools in the country. Everybody recruits in Central New York now. But that was the team that really brought scholastic lacrosse in Central New York to the forefront."
A first-class facility back home combined with a family atmosphere that Coach Simmons was fostering, led guys to want to play with their hometown scrawled across their chests.
"Coach used to tell us, there are not too many places where the name of the team, the name that is printed across the front of your jersey, represents the town, like Syracuse," recalls John Desko.
In 1983, the family atmosphere started with the coaching staff. Coach Simmons had Desko at his side, a former player who was well-liked by the younger players who followed him. The other assistant coach that year was Roy Simmons III. He, too, had attended Syracuse University and played for his father. This coaching consistency would last for the next 20 years.
"Stability in the coaching ranks is a big component," says Hall of Fame midfielder Brad Kotz, a sophomore on the '83 team. "In the lacrosse world, coaches are constantly moving around. At Syracuse, we have all local guys who have been loyal and committed to the program. They live it and breathe it. That being said, it is a tribute to the athletic department that they've been able to retain and maintain this consistency."
A championship team always has strong leadership and the quad-captains in '83, (McCormick, Wenham, Lux and Darren Lawlor), set the tone early and provided the team with its quest.
"They led on and off the field," remembers Tom Korrie, then a freshman. "They could relate to everyone. They went through some difficult times before '83 and they knew how not to do it. That perspective helped us as a team. Momma Mac (Jeff McCormick) was the greatest leader I've ever been around. He was the most respected player on the team and no one out-worked him, on or off the field. He kept us focused on important things like modesty and hard work."
The goal of winning a national championship was talked about openly throughout the year.
"All season long, Darren Lawlor would shout, 'We're going for the ring!' said Lux. "And I believed it."
The coaches employed a training philosophy, an empowering form of leadership, that was born out of Coach Simmons' personality, but since has been passed down and emulated by Desko, Simmons III and Kevin Donahue. It is a unique form of coaching that not many other coaches abide by.
"Sometimes less is more," says Simmons Jr. "For instance, after a loss, I might tell the guys to take Sunday AND Monday off. I think you get more out of that instead of beating them up. We would do different things to make practice fun. We did competitive drills to force factions. Upstate players versus downstate players or city slickers versus plow boys. Our practices were an hour and 45 minutes. After that time, people tend to lose concentration. You run the risk of people getting hurt. We still got in as much running, but we camouflaged the running, buried it in drills that were just as much fun and something they would look forward to."
Crouthamel agrees and sees this form of coaching as one of the main reasons why the Orangemen were ripe for building a dynasty.
"There is a culture in lacrosse that is really kind of free-spirited," says Crouthamel. "And I think that may be part of the success that we've had is that while clearly there is discipline required on the field, there has been a great deal of latitude given, it seems to me, in allowing creativity. Even if it fails. Which lends itself to a culture. THE culture. I think sometimes if you try to be too close-minded about that culture, you lose productivity."
The goalie situation on the '83 team was an interesting one, yet quite symbolic. Solomon and Tom Nims were competing for the starting goaltender position. Nims was very athletic, could clear the ball up field by himself, make tremendous saves, and was all in all, a very exciting player. Solomon was bigger and very strong. He never wore a chest protector, was left-handed, and had pinpoint accuracy passing the ball up to 60 yards or more. Both were vocal enough to get the job done.
"These two guys battled all preseason for the starting job," remembers Wenham. "It must have been extremely difficult for the coaches to decide whom to start that first game. I think the tone was set by these two guys because even though they were in direct competition with one another, they were close friends and they were each other's best supporters. They cheered each other on constantly and never put the other down. They critiqued one another, noticed slight adjustments that could be made in order to make a better play."
Nims got the nod to start the first game versus Maryland, but in the second half, he broke his collarbone, trying to make a play. Solomon was inserted.
"Maryland was licking its chops," remembers Wenham. "In their haste to score, they took a couple of quick shots from the outside. I clearly remember the first one coming from straight on, about 15 yards away. Trav jumped up and the ball deflected off his bare shoulder and over the net and out of bounds. He never flinched and the team went nuts. We went on to win that game. It gave us a tremendous boost as a team, although we lost Nimmer for the season."
After beating Maryland in the first game of the season, the Orangemen went on to post an 11-1 regular-season record in 1983. Their only loss was a 9-6 decision at Army on April 23.
"There were lots of tears and angry young men after that game," recalled Wenham. "No blaming or finger-pointing, though. We stayed together."
SU was seeded second in the '83 NCAA Tournament and earned the right to host the first round and semifinal games. SU beat Pennsylvania, the seventh seed, 11-8, at Coyne Field. Nelson had one goal and five assists, while Randy Lundblad scored three times.
In the semifinals at the Carrier Dome, the Orange beat Maryland, 12-5, behind Lundblad's one goal and four assists and Solomon's 22 saves. The win catapulted the Orangemen into their first NCAA championship game. It gave the Orangemen a chance to face top-seeded Johns Hopkins, a team that was making its seventh-straight appearance in the national finals at that point. The Blue Jays had already garnered four NCAA crowns. The David versus Goliath showdown was all set to transpire at Rutgers.
With the excitement surrounding the big game, the players approached Coach Simmons and asked if they could wear orange jerseys. After all, they were the ORANGEMEN. For their final game of the season, and coincidentally the biggest game in program history up until that point, they wanted a fresh, new look. Something that would provide an extra spark, or serve as an added psych tool. Simmons tapped on Crouthamel's door to see if buying orange jerseys was feasible.
"I was told it was not in the budget," remembers Simmons. "But, the guys really wanted them, so it was decided that the players would buy their own jerseys. I called Champion and asked if they could have them ready in time. They said, 'no problem' and promised to air express them down to New Jersey. We brought the blue ones just in case."
The jerseys arrived on time and in their NCAA championship debut, the Orangemen donned Orange. By the end of the third quarter, they were seeing fire. Hopkins owned a 12-5 advantage with less than seven minutes to play in the third quarter. That is when a spark in the form of a determined Darren Lawlor was lit. The senior leader who had engaged his teammates in daily gold-ring visualization techniques, took control. With a long-stick in his hands, the defenseman scored a goal that the Syracuse Herald American said, "set off an amazing chain of events to push the Orangemen to their first-ever lacrosse title in the NCAA playoff format."
"My most memorable recollection was when Darren Lawlor scored the first goal of our comeback run in the national championship game," said classmate Bob Parry. "He was my travel roommate and I was so proud and happy for him, let alone the joy of scoring a goal in that situation. From there, it seemed the ice had been broken and our comeback surge of consecutive goals could not be denied."
"We were not discouraged when the score was 12-5," said Kotz, "because the score was not indicative of how the game was being played. We had 5-10 fast breaks in the first half that we did not capitalize on. For some reason, we weren't finishing. But, we kept fighting hard. We had more heart on that team and everyone believed in themselves."
Kotz and Nelson spearheaded the comeback. SU outscored the Blue Jays 4-1 to close out the third period and then added six-straight goals in the fourth quarter to go up 15-13. Hopkins knotted the score at 15, but goals by Kotz and Lundblad gave the Orange a two-goal cushion. Hopkins got only one back and SU ended the day with a 17-16 win. Nelson had two goals and six assists to finish as the tournament's leading scorer with 15 points. Kotz scored five goals, all in the second half, and was named MVP. Solomon totaled 18 saves.
"In the back of my mind I had the expectation that we would win a national championship," said Kotz. "From the seniors on down, we created that expectation and made a commitment. The expectation came from regularly talking about our goal. We did not want to be denied winning that ring."
Pure elation ensued.
During the on field celebration, Crouthamel walked up to Simmons, shook his hand and said, "Bring that jersey bill in to me."
Now, 20 years later, the accomplishments of the '83 team are the cornerstones for a lacrosse program that has become a dynasty, one of the greatest, in any sport.
"Except for when my children were born, the 1983 championship was the greatest day of my life," said Nelson. "I will always cherish that memory, the friendships I made and all the other great times I had as an SU lacrosse player."
"As a player, national championships didn't seem attainable," said Desko. "A whole new attitude pervaded because of the 1983 team. Now we've got them believing it is achievable. Once guys got a taste of it, that was it."
Kotz and McCormick articulately describe the sentiments felt today.
"Success breeds success," explained Kotz. "The hardest part is gaining that initial success. I think how we won it, how we played the game is what allowed the program to flourish. The players today should feel privileged and honored to be in the position that they are in. There is a lot of pride surrounding our program. If they can keep the trend going, without getting overly confident and remember that they have to go out and earn it every day of their lives, then I don't see any reason why the success has to end. You've got to think about the past and take a sense of ownership."
"Many of the memories have faded," McCormick said. "Most games have become blurred. The ring sits in a drawer. Our bodies could no longer survive the wear and tear we thrived on 20 years ago. But our place in establishing The Tradition is permanent. May others carry it forward, remember those who came before, and preserve The Tradition for others who will come after."
