2006 Team of Honor
Lafayette HS 1967 Lacrosse Team
Lacrosse, in 1967, was not the most popular high school sport; its time was yet to come. And come it did to the tiny village and high school in LaFayette. One of the most amazing group of athletes ever assembled in Central New York turned out for lacrosse tryouts in February of that memorable year. Coack Gordie Ohstrom (Hall of Fame Inductee, Class of 2004), took the reings of a group of kids who were about to embark on a journey of 41 games without a single loss.
Lacrosse was different back in the sixties. Kids playes the game during larosse season, .There was no summer, fall or winter lacrosse. No B.U.L.L. leagues. No programs that began right after toilet-training and end with the arrival of your first Social Security check. Buy Gordie's 1967 LaFayette High School gang might as well have played the game year-round. For many of those players, the Native American kids, the game was a genetic factor and those Onondagans made the nucleus of the squad. The name of Travis Cook, Al Jacques, Ron Doctor, Ron Hill carried that team to a 16-0 season record, including County and Upstate titles. They scored 281 goals, 185 assists. Cook, Jacques and Shaw all scored over 40 goals, and Cook, Doctor and Jacques each topped 70 points. Against East Syracuse-Minoa that year, they racked upa total of 23 assists and averaged 11.5 assists per game. The LaFayette defense wasn't too shabby, either--holding opponenets to 3.5 goals per game.
Five Lancers went on to capain their college teams: Ron Doctor (Syracuse), Mark Werder (Albany State), John Porter (Hobart), Bob Shaw (Cornell) and Steve Wood (Army).
Whel the '67 LaFayette stickemen are being honored for their great season, subsequent Ohstrom-coached teams kept the streak going, extendig their undefeated status to 41 games. It was Tom Hall's Fayetteville-Manlius Hornet team of 1969 that ended the run. Gordie's final lacrosse record was 153-31-1.