world championships as a member of Team USA in 1994 and 1998.
On Oct. 24, Lockwood will enjoy the sweetest affirmation of the playing career that long ago seemed unlikely. Along with eight other inductees, including former Syracuse midfielder and line mate Dom Fin, Lockwood will be enshrined by US Lacrosse as a member of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. “It’s amazing. Charlie never even knew about lacrosse until the seventh grade, and I had nothing to offer. Never held a stick in my life,” said Lockwood’s father, Charlie Sr., who used his baseball glove to catch his son’s lacrosse passes in the yard. “We literally watched Charlie grow up with the sport.” Bring up Lockwood’s name to those who played with him or coached him and remain his friend to this day, and the picture is clear and consistent. His teenage nickname – Charlie “Laser” Lockwood – told of a player who would rip one of the hardest shots in the college game in the mid-1990s. But Lockwood was more than that. As a two-way midfielder, he was a strong defender and dependable ground ball man. Whether he was dodging inside, standing outside or coming from behind the net, his shot was deadly.
Fin, who played on the same line with Lockwood as an upperclassman, remembered a teammate who was good enough to take over a game at will, had the endless energy and explosive speed with which to do it, and thrived under pressure. Simmons recalled the same package. “Charlie could run like the wind and had unbelievable stamina,” Simmons said. “He used to get mad at me for pulling him off the field to change lines. He’d yell at me that he wasn’t tired. I’d say, ‘Look at the other two guys heading for the water!’ And he never had any problem with pressure.” Lockwood proved that to Simmons
shortly after enrolling at Syracuse. Before the beginning of fall ball season, incoming players chose available jersey numbers. Lockwood wanted No. 7, his high school number. Simmons pushed him to take No. 22, just a few months after Gait, who is widely considered the best player ever, ended his college career by leading Syracuse to its third straight national championship. “Gary Gait was the Michael Jordan of lacrosse,” Lockwood said. “You put that number on your back and you’re going to get a lot of attention. I remember getting the business from a lot of upperclassmen when I first walked out on the practice field.”
laxmagazine.com
Lockwood quickly answered by establishing himself in the
fall’s opening scrimmage. He scored the game-winning goal against Loyola.
THE 22 LEGACY
“You like pressure?” Hall of Fame coach Roy Simmons Jr. asked Casey Powell. Then Simmons handed him Syracuse’s famed jersey No. 22 at the end of fall ball Powell’s freshman year. One of lacrosse’s most notable traditions started with Gary Gait, continued with Charlie Lockwood and continues to this day.
Lockwood had little use for flash in his game — no behind- the-back passes or shots, for example — and was thrilled to defer to other scorers. His 142 career points at Syracuse included 87 goals and 55 assists. His biggest play came in the 1993 NCAA championship game, when he capped his junior year by feeding Matt Riter for the game-winner against North Carolina with eight seconds left. “Most kids from upstate are a bit timid and shy. Not Charlie. He was a wild man – part politician, part comedian, great teammate,” Fin said. “He wasn’t a guy who’d sit back. He’d do anything to win and he competed the right way. It was brutally obvious after our first couple of practices [at Syracuse] that he was going to be a great player.”
GARY GAIT (1988-90)
“I called Charlie ‘The Wild Stallion.’ He did exactly what he was told, but he did it harder than anyone else, whether it was a single push-up or [running] 25 hills,” said Mike Messere, the longtime West Genesee coach who guided a Lockwood-led team to an undefeated season and state title in 1990. It was that type of drive and athleticism that landed Lockwood in an unlikely place as a senior – a walk-on with the Syracuse basketball team. He appeared in six games and played 17 minutes in the 1993- 94 season.
CHARLIE
LOCKWOOD (1991-94)
CASEY POWELL (1995-98)
RYAN POWELL (1999-2000)
MIKE POWELL (2001-04)
DAN HARDY (2006-09)
CODY JAMIESON (2010)
JOJO MARASCO (2011-13)
JORDAN EVANS (2014-present)
Casey Powell, the first of the three Powell brothers — Ryan and Mikey are the others — in one of Syracuse’s most celebrated lacrosse families, grew up in part watching Lockwood play for the Orange. Powell wore No. 22 after Lockwood graduated in 1994. The two were roommates with Team USA in 1998. “Charlie was cool and calm, had a cannon shot and he could run like a deer,” Powell said. “As a high school kid, I was enamored with the way he played and the electricity he brought to the [Carrier] Dome.” “I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by some of the best coaches who’ve ever coached the game and some of the best players who’ve ever played the game,” said Lockwood, an equipment sales manager for STX who resides in Syracuse with his wife, Kristin and their four children – Olivia, 11; Charlie, 9; Luke, 7; and Reed, 4. “Since I was 15 years old, I’ve been helped by the best of the best,” he added. “This [Hall of Fame honor] is surreal.”
October 2015 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE 45
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