The History Book Club discussion

This is the thread to discuss the history of the sport: Lacrosse.

Feel free to discuss any important athletes associated with the sport of Lacrosse or any special events or associated teams, locations or games.

Please add any books associated with any aspect of this sport.

by Donald M. Fisher

For those of you not that familiar with the game of lacrosse, here is book that you could start with.

John Williams Martin (born 3/7/1918) passed away a couple of weeks ago at age 94. John played high school lacrosse in Syracuse, NY and one away game was against the freshman U.S. Navy team at Annapolis. Before the game the Naval plebes were talking a lot of trash about playing a high school team. Well the high school team won 4-2 with John scoring two of his team’s goals. The team was to stay and have dinner following the game and for some reason they were left standing outside the mess hall for an extended period of time. When they were allowed entrance they received a standing ovation by all. Evidentially it was the first time in history that any U.S. Navy sports team had lost to a high school team. John went on to Syracuse University and was an All-American lacrosse player, but his greatest joy was that high school game. John’s profession was in engineering, however on the side for 18 years he was a basketball and lacrosse referee for the Ivy League.

My knowledge of LaCrosse is limited to the LaCrosse player I dated in college, quite awhile ago. It's not a sport that gets a lot of mainstream attention.

Flamethrowers - Guardians of the Game
by J. Alan Childs
Synopsis
The first team sport was given to the First Nations by the Creator. The first players called it “The Creator’s Game”. Flamethrowers, guardians of the game, were given special sticks by the Creator to teach and watch over the sport. But there was a betrayal, a Nation lost, and the Creator removed the Flamethrowers from the earth. But they left something behind… Kenny lives in a mining town located on the iron Range in Minnesota. His entire family plays hockey. Only one problem for Kenny, he hates hockey. Then fate finds Kenny in a cave where he discovers a stone box containing a special stick. Kenny seeks out a storyteller to find out the origin of the stick. Join Kenny as he searches for the story and discovers a dark side that he must face.