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HALL OF FAMER STARTED LSM REVOLUTION
Steve Mitchell will be the first long-stick midfielder enshrined among greats
T
he National Lacrosse Hall of Fame includes an assemblage of attackmen, a mass
of midfielders, a deluge of defensemen, a gaggle of goalies, a cordon of coaches and now one long-stick midfielder. That’s it. One.
The Hall will welcome its first LSM when Steve Mitchell and the 2014 class are enshrined Oct. 25 at the Grand Lodge in Hunt Valley, Md.
Mitchell, who played for Johns Hopkins in the 1980s, might have become a Hall of Famer no matter what position he played. He was 6-foot- 6 and weighed 220 pounds. He was a three-sport athlete, also playing football and basketball for the Blue Jays. Mitchell’s lacrosse credentials are impeccable: first-team All- American in 1986 and 1987, three NCAA championships (1984, 1985 and 1987) and two world championships (1990 and 1994) with Team USA. And there was one thing that set him apart from other behemoths.
“Steve loved to run,” said Don Zimmerman, who coached Mitchell at Johns Hopkins and now coaches UMBC. “He was such a great athlete that he was perfect to play long-stick middie. Long sticks venture out and do things close defensemen don’t.” How does the fourth long stick, the fourth player with a 72-inch stick, affect the game?
“The position has transformed from being thought of as a
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defensive stopper to being one of the most dynamic catalysts on the field,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who has made excellent use of long-stick middies in producing four NCAA championship teams. “You can only be effective in transition if your long stick is involved in the complete flow of action on the field. Steve Mitchell was one of those who made us think differently.” Tony Seaman, general manager of the recently crowned MLL champion Denver Outlaws, spent 30 years coaching college lacrosse at C.W. Post, Penn, Johns Hopkins and Towson. “The primary role of the long stick was to create a position that would take the other team’s best midfielder out of the game,” Seaman said. “I was lucky enough to coach Steve Mitchell on the ‘94 world team. No one handled that responsibility better than he did. In high school at Baltimore’s St. Paul’s School, Mitchell was coached by his late father, George Mitchell, who was an attackman on the Johns Hopkins teams that never lost a college game from 1947 to 1950 and won 10 Maryland Scholastic Association championships as a coach. “My father stuck a pole in my hand when I was in 10th grade and at first I hated it,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t want to play defense. I wanted to play midfield and score goals. I learned to like it, though. I watch a lot of games now, and long-stick middie is a fun position to watch. They’re some of the best players on the field.” LM
A WIN AND A TIE JULY/AUG 2000
Syracuse’s first of five national titles under coach John Desko was full of pomp and circumstance, as then- Lacrosse Magazine editor Nate Ewell wrote in this NCAA championship edition. Ryan Powell tied older brother Casey’s Syracuse career points record in the then- Orangemen’s 13-7 win over Princeton. Afterward, the team held a net-cutting
ceremony, a first for lacrosse. Powell also handed off the famed Syracuse No. 22 jersey to younger brother, Mike, who was headed to Syracuse the next season. “Slighter in build, but carrying heavy expectations,” Ewell wrote.
He wasn’t the only one. After taking over for legendary Roy Simmons Jr., Desko felt pressure, too. After Simmons retired in 1998, he said at a banquet, “It’ll get better.”
Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim then looked at Simmons and mused: “Six NCAA championships… 16 straight final fours.” Then Boeheim turned to Desko and deadpanned: “And you’re supposed to do better?” — Corey McLaughlin
LM VAULT
— Bill Tanton
btanton@uslacrosse.org JIM BOEHEIM » LACROSSE MAGAZINE october 2014 29
©JOHN STROHSACKER (BT); ©SYRACUSE
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