“The Game Just Sticks:” Lacrosse Transcends Culture Generations

What is Lacrosse? Lacrosse can be considered to be a combination of hockey and soccer. It is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and lacrosse ball. Players use the head of the lacrosse stick to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into the goal against an opposing team. It is considered to be one of the oldest sports in North America to still be in existence. Initially named “stickball” by the Algonquian tribe, the game has remained popular amongst Native Americans.
By the 1900s, there were many men’s clubs for lacrosse all over the world.
Morgan State University, located in Baltimore, Maryland, became the first HBCU to build a collegiate men’s lacrosse team. In 1970, black lacrosse players coming out of high school from Maryland and New York were having trouble getting into white colleges, so Morgan State fielded the first lacrosse team. Two thirds of football players showed up to the first lacrosse meeting to join the team. Morgan State soon dominated division II lacrosse.
After coach Howard “Chip” SIlverman retired at the end of the 1975 season, the Bears never had another winning season. By 1981, the school dropped lacrosse because the athletic funds had to be distributed to more women’s programs.
The majority of HBCUs, including Southern University, do not offer lacrosse. However, the HBCU Lacrosse Consortium — consisting of Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University and University of Maryland- Eastern Shore, wants to “grow the game” by exposing lacrosse to men and women at other HBCUs.
After learning more about the lacrosse sport, Freshman criminal justice major from Ohio, Erin Debrill, says “I think lacrosse would be a great addition for the football players at Southern. It would help them condition during the spring in my opinion.”
Another freshman nursing major from Donaldsonville, Louisiana says, “Lacrosse looks fun . and the games would be lit.”
Hampton recently made history as the first HBCU to enter Division I. The current coach for Hampton, Lloyd Carter, was a former player of the Bears from Morgan State.
Carter wants his team to, “enjoy the moment,” he tells local Hampton radio station WTKR, “These guys, it won’t really hit them until they get older, then it’ll sink in.”
Lacrosse was ignored in the black community because of the cost of equipment and lack of television, according to the National Black Chambers of Commerce. The equipment includes pads, gloves, helmets, the ball, and the stick. Also, NCAA studies show that only 1.9 percent of division men’s lacrosse is black.
An important figure in black lacrosse is one player from a team in Southern California named Kyle Harrison. He shares how it feels to be playing with other black men. “I was proud as hell walking on that field with those guys. I knew we had all been through the same thing, and we’ve all been the only guy on the team before. When you start getting in those situations where you’re not the only one, you’re not the token black lacrosse player on a team, you just feel more comfortable.”
Another important figure in lacrosse is Jim Brown. Brown, known as a football legend, joined the lacrosse team during his time at Syracuse and dominated. Brown became second in the nation with 43 goals in only 10 games, and a First-Team All America selection.
In 1983, Brown got inducted in to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Brown, excelling in both football and lacrosse, chose lacrosse as the better sport during an interview. “I could fully express myself in lacrosse,” Brown told Times.
As the black community continues to learn about lacrosse, the legends are making history.