PAUL RODRIGUEZ


JOHN KRZYMINSKI


SPECIAL OPS PIPELINE


I


Jumping out of planes and into peril, lacrosse players are at the forefront of elite U.S. forces BY MATT WHITE


f ever there was a morning to sleep in — and sleep it off — in Charlottesville, it was the Tuesday after Memorial Day 2011, a little more than 12 hours after the Virginia men’s lacrosse team defeated Maryland for its fifth NCAA championship.


Most of Bray Malphrus’ teammates were snoozing off the previous night of celebrating as the senior defenseman and team captain swung his car into the parking lot of an Army recruiting office. He parked, walked around and opened the passenger door. There, buckled in by the seat belt,


32 LACROSSE MAGAZINE » november 2014


was the NCAA championship trophy.


“I was not letting go of that thing,” Malphrus said.


Malphrus also still had a jet-black beard and ferocious Mohawk, as a startled ESPN audience discovered the previous evening during his interview on the field. The combination had a similar effect on the sergeant on duty when Malphrus walked in. “This guy was looking at me sideways like, ‘What the hell are you?’ I said, ‘I am here because I want to be an Army Ranger.’ He was like, ‘OK, did you just finish playing ‘Call of Duty?’”


For much of his career at


Virginia, when Malphrus wasn’t practicing lacrosse, he was preparing to try out for one of the military’s elite, highly selective special operations jobs. Prior to his junior year, he almost left Virginia to become a Navy SEAL. Instead, he decided to come back for a final run at the NCAA title, changed his goal to making it into the Army’s Special Forces, and


Top: Former Coronado (Calif.) player Paul Rodriguez and Air Force captain John Krzyminski in Pararescue training.


Middle/Bottom: Krzyminski with his family after a game and in down time during training.


A Publication of US Lacrosse


COURTESY OF JOHN KRZYMINSKI


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