Ultimate Warrior
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Navy SEAL and Syracuse lacrosse alum Rorke Denver ran 192 combat missions in Iraq
Rorke Denver likes to take the hard way.
A California boy and Syracuse All-American, he became a Navy SEAL and led combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He has written a book and starred in “Act of Valor.”
How did you find lacrosse and end up at Syracuse? There was a sign outside
my English class that a club was starting. I took to it fast. After my junior year, my dad said, “Just for fun, do you want to go to a camp?” I went to Syracuse’s camp. I thought I was going to get eaten alive. Roy Simmons Jr. came up to me and said, “You’re from where? You’re big and fast and can definitely play at this level.”
You were an honorable mention All-American in ‘96. I’m really proud of this. It’s a
strange concept, when you go on to do things like SEALs. But I feel like for those lacrosse lists, the names are sealed in the envelope before the season starts. I didn’t have a pedigree. I was just grinding.
When did you decide to become a SEAL? My senior year at Syracuse, my dad sent me a paperback
BANDANA BOYS Fueled by the memory of
Welles Crowther, the Boston College football team upset then-No. 9 USC Sept. 13, donning special helmets, gloves and cleats symbolizing the red bandana the former Eagles lacrosse player, equities trader and 9/11 hero wore. Crowther died after saving at least a dozen people in the south tower of the World Trade Center.
CROSSE CULTURE
copy of Winston Churchill’s “My Early Life.” [Churchill] was in the Frontier wars, the Pakistan-India border wars and the Boer wars in Africa, where he was captured and escaped. I put that book down and knew I wanted to serve.
What action did you see? The most aggressive and
violent tour was summer of 2006 in Iraq. I was a platoon commander in Al Anbar. Very kinetic engagements, taking out bad guys, but also partnering with some of the sheiks and tribal warlords to get those tribal awakenings to happen. We went from a time when you couldn’t go outside the wire without being in a gunfight to, six months after our deployment, people are walking around Rhymadi with no body armor. We ran 192 combat missions in those seven months.
Why do lacrosse players fare well in SEAL training? It is a warrior game. It has combative roots, a gift from the Creator that was based on toughness and physicality.
Denver won two NCAA titles as a defenseman for the Orange.
You got all these positions: defensemen, attackmen, faceoff specialist, goalie. Same thing in a special ops team: You got snipers, you got your breachers, you got communications specialists, a medic in there. It’s the ultimate sport for any military service, and definitely for special operations. — Matt White
HOOYAH! In 14 years as a Navy SEAL officer, Rorke Denver faced drug lords
in Latin America, violent mobs in Liberia and terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Hell Week to hero, Denver’s book, “Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior,” takes you inside an elite brotherhood and demonstrates the challenges of modern warfare. Lacrosse fans will find familiarity in anecdotal references to Denver’s time playing for legend Roy Simmons Jr. at Syracuse (1993-96) and his appreciation for Native American culture. “Damn Few,” co-authored by Denver
and Ellis Henican, made The New York Times best seller list in March 2013.
STAR SIGHTING Emmanuel Lewis, star of
the 1980s sitcom “Webster,” attended Game 6 of the Mann Cup. Lewis, a friend of Six Nations owner Ken Hill, did an honorary faceoff before the Chiefs’ series-clinching 9-4 win at Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.
November 2014 » LACROSSE MAGAZINE
19
COURTESY OF SYRACUSE ATHLETICS
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