Lacrosse Legends

Bill Hutton - Season 2

Bill is one of the consummate Builders of the game of lacrosse domestically and internationally.

Over his long and illustrious career, he has coached at the minor level and served as President of both the Ontario Lacrosse Association and the Canadian Lacrosse Association—and just about everything else in between.

He has been Chair of the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation and received many awards for his selfless service to the game, including Canada’s 125th Governor General’s Award, Ontario’s Mr. Lacrosse Award and a Life Membership, the CLA’s Lester B. Pearson Award, induction into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and many others.

Bill also was one of the key drivers behind getting lacrosse recognized as Canada’s National Summer Sport in 1994. All this came from a person who had not played the game himself – an uncommon background in that regard.

Stew Begg - Season 2

Stew has officiated and administrated lacrosse officials at all amateur levels since 1962 when he started with the game in Cornwall, Ontario. Up until 1998 he had officiated at the Founders’ Cup, Presidents’ Cup and Mann Cup games as an official.

After that he served as Referee-In-Chief (RIC) for the Founders’ Cup and Minto Cup, as well as the 2007 FIL World Indoor Championship (WILC) in Halifax.

From 1999 through 2008 Stew was the CLA Chair of the Nationals Officials Certification Program. He is one of four Master Course Officiating Clinicians in Canada. From 2008-2016 he was the CLA VP of International Competitions.

Over his career he has assessed more than 2,000 officials locally, nationally and internationally. Begg was RIC of the 2011 WILC in Prague. Begg also has convened national championships at all levels from 2012-2019.

Bobby Delormier, Bill Sunday and Ron Thomas - Season 2

These three amigos have been friends for most of their lives. During their playing careers Sunday and Delormier were based out of Akwesasne and Thomas hailed from Six Nations. All three were inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998.

Delormier is best remembered for his shifty dodging ability. He was a member of championship teams in St. Regis in 1957-58, Niagara Falls in 1960 and Fort Erie in 1968/69. He was named MVP three times for these various teams.

Sunday played for the St. Regis Indians during their heyday. He received his training by the legendary team that consisted of Angus Thomas, Angus George and Luis Sunday. They taught him to take the ball off the draw and create a fast-break and scoring opportunity using pure speed.

Thomas made his name playing with the Brantford Warriors in the 60’s and 70’s and comes from a lacrosse family that included his brothers Ivan and Charlie, also OLHoF inductees. He was on the 1971 Mann Cup Championship team.

He was named Senior B Outstanding Goalie in 1968 with two President Cups in 1967-68. He was a pro with the Toronto Tomahawks in 1974.

Bill Bradley - Season 2

Bill Bradley is regarded as one of the greatest Adanacs ever, and he was certainly the club's spiritual leader for all those years while Mike Gates was the scoring leader.

Bill Bradley began his box career playing juvenile lacrosse in North Burnaby and lead the North Burnaby Norburns into the 1961 Minto Cup national junior final.

During the next fourteen years, Bill played in Victoria, Coquitlam, and Windsor, Ontario, as well as Montreal and Maryland of the Professional (original) National Lacrosse League.

He earned a reputation as one of the games hardest hitting defensive specialists, garnering seven first team all-star selections in the Western Lacrosse Association and one in the Ontario league.

His career lacrosse statistics included 376 goals and 937 points in 498 games. He was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

Cap Bomberry - Season 2

Cap has been involved in lacrosse for over 60 years. At his induction into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame it was said, "Cap is renowned for recruiting players for his team and well respected by his community and peers".

Cap played for the Oshweken Warriors from 1959-1973 and won the President's Cup in 1964, 1967 & 1968. He helped out in the minor organization from 1975-88. (13 years) and was a Team Manager/GM with the Jr. A Arrows from 1990-92 winning the Minto Cup in Coquitlam in 1992. This was the first indigenous team to win the Minto Cup.

He was also the GM for the SN Chiefs from 1993-97 winning the Mann Cup in 1994, 1995,and 1996. Cap was President and GM Six Nations Rivermen from 2013-2019 winning the President's Cup in 2015 and 2019.

Cap has received many accolades including induction into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997 in the Builder Category. He went into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001 as a Builder and became an OLA Life Member in 2006 and was presented with the OLA President's Award.

Al Luciuk - S2

Al Luciuk is known for his involvement in many areas in growing the game. He is a builder of field lacrosse in Saskatchewan and has worked at all levels of the game: locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Al has taken skills learned as a professional teacher and brought them to benefit lacrosse.

He has served for 15 years as the President of the Saskatoon Field Lacrosse Association. Al served with Saskatchewan’s Sr. Men’s Provincial Teams as a Player, Coach, and Team Captain for Fifteen Years winning Six National Titles including two Ross Cups and four Victory Trophies.

As Head Coach for the Junior Men’s Provincial Teams he won two Silver medals and nine Bronze medals. He was the Men’s Field Sector Chairperson, and the President and a Lifetime Member for the Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association.

As Coach of the Scorpion Lacrosse and Sturgis Trojan Lacrosse Teams his teams won five consecutive Provincial High School U19 Championships and twelve Provincial U19 Championship Titles. His programs placed 28 athletes in Div. I, Div. II, Div. III, and Collegiate Club Programs in the NCAA.

For Team Canada he was Assistant Manager for the Team Canada U19 National Team when they won a Silver Medal at the World Championships in Burnaby, BC and Assistant Coach for the Team Canada U19 National Team winning a Silver Medal at the World Championships in Towson, MD.

He has been a writer of many manuals for the CLA and a presenter at the US Lacrosse Convention. When you think of lacrosse in Saskatchewan you think of Al Luciuk

Joanne Stanga - Season 2

Joanne Stanga is one of the important women who helped to build Canadian Women’s Field Lacrosse.

She was the Head Coach and Assistant Coach of Senior and U19 National Teams for a 10 year period going back to 1993. She coached the Ontario Senior and Junior Teams beginning in 1990 through 2005, and coached locally in Orillia as well.

Joanne shared her knowledge of the game as a Master Course Conductor up to 2016.

As a player she competed for Canada, Ontario and as a Rep Player from 1978-2010.

Along with Coaching and Playing Joanne served at all levels as a builder of the game through her Administrative acumen. This stretched through all levels - locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.

She worked on developing the high school league and Summer Games as well.

All this work brought her many accolades. She received Orillia’s Piper Bain Award and was named a Life Member there, collected the OLA Mr. Lacrosse Award, the CLA Lester B. Pearson Award, the IWFLA Recognition Award, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

To top things off, Orillia created the Joanne T. Stanga Award to honour her contributions.

Tewanee Joseph - Season 2

Tewanee Joseph was born in North Vancouver with a unique ancestry – half Squamish Nation and half Maori from New Zealand.

Growing up on a Squamish reserve, Tewanee used his love of sports and natural athleticism to survive the rough-and-tumble challenges of reserve life.

Playing lacrosse, soccer and basketball he earned the respect of many. As a teenager, Tewanee became captain of the North Shore Indians Lacrosse Club of the West Coast Senior Lacrosse League.

He won four national championships in box and field lacrosse and had the opportunity to represent Canada on a Junior National team in 1989 and the Iroquois Nations at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

The North Shore Indians have a storied history in lacrosse. Tewanee had relatives on the 1936 team that made it all the way to the Mann Cup national championship final, and he followed in those same footsteps when he was growing up.

“I love lacrosse. Every Friday night I’d go out to the games and watch the North Shore Indians. That was what we did, me and my friends, and that was what we dreamed of being: North Shore Indians,” he says.

“My late grand-uncle, Stan Joseph Sr., he’s in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He used to go run laps and we’d be in there as kids playing in the box, we’d gear up with what little gear we had and play lacrosse for all hours of the day. I spent a lot of time in that box.”

The dream eventually came true for Joseph, as he suited up for the North Shore Indians and helped the team win two President’s Cups, the trophy awarded to the Canadian Lacrosse Association’s senior B national champion.

In addition to his Lacrosse specific work, Tewanee is on the Board of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and was instrumental in the drive (including funding projects) and getting history and suggestions for the Hall’s Award winning Indigenous Sport Gallery.

He was also a key part of the work with the 2010 Olympics and the Four Host Nations involvement in the Games

Donald Barrie - Season 2

Don started playing as a nine year old in 1949 in Peterborough. He played minor lacrosse in Peterborough, senior lacrosse in Brooklin, Peterborough, Sorel , Montreal ,Quebec City and Hastings.

He started coaching in the Peterborough minor system in 1960, winning 10 Ontario titles and went on to coach Junior A lacrosse in Peterborough in 1970, 1971 and 1977.

He advanced to coach the Major A Lakers in 1998 where he was named MSL Coach of the Year. At the professional level he was assistant coach with the NLL Philadelphia Wings in 1974 and head coach of the Maryland Arrows in 1975.

At the international level Don was assistant coach of the World Champion Canada field lacrosse team in 1978, again in 1982, and was convener of the team in 1990.

Don started writing a weekly sports column in the Peterborough Examiner in 1995, and continues to do so today.

In 2008 he wrote a 600 page history of lacrosse in Peterborough; “Lacrosse: The Peterborough Way”. He went on to write two novels on lacrosse, Moon and Me (2009) and Stickman (2012).

Welcome to Season 2 of The Lacrosse Legends Podcast Series

Russ Sheppard

Russ was introduced to lacrosse in Saskatchewan through master coach Al Luciuk. He played some senior men’s lacrosse and began coaching youth in 1995. He moved to Nunavut as a teacher in 1998 and began the Kugluktuk Grizzlies lacrosse program in 1999. Soon after, he formed Nunavut Lacrosse.

The journey of his program and the amazing impact the game had on the disenfranchised youth of the region has been captured in the recent release of the full-length motion picture “The Grizzlies.”

This Lacrosse Talk will tell the story behind the initiative and the movie and will be of great interest to all who love this game.

His involvement with the game did not end with the Grizzlies. Russ moved to Edmonton in 2005 and helped found the Edmonton Razorbacks. He coached the Midget A Warriors, the Sherwood Park Titans Junior B, Team Alberta Box Midget and Bantam, and Team Alberta U16 and U19.

He signed a Life Rights Movie deal in 2006 for the Grizzlies program and helped start and build the Vimy Ridge Lacrosse Academy. Russ moved to Toronto in 2008 to become the dean of students and the assistant lacrosse coach for the Hill Academy. In 2009, he coached the Sherwood Park Titans and Attended law school in Edmonton.

In 2012, he moved to Cranbrook, B.C. where he started the Badgers Field Lacrosse Program, became Chair of B.C. Coaches in 2014 and assisted in growing Cranbrook Box Lacrosse.

As an administrator, Russ was a board member of the Canadian Lacrosse Association for six years and the B.C. Coaches Chair since 2014. Russ has worked with over 30 athletes who went on to play lacrosse in college in Canada or the NCAA. He is a master learning facilitator for box and field lacrosse, a writer of both box and field lacrosse manuals, and has worked with the CLA coaching committee for many years. Overall, he has helped to train thousands of coaches across Canada.
Don Barrie

Don started playing as a nine-year-old in 1949 in Peterborough. He played minor lacrosse in Peterborough and went on to play senior lacrosse in Brooklyn, Peterborough, Sorel, Montreal, Quebec City and Hastings.

He started coaching in the Peterborough minor system in 1960, winning 10 Ontario titles and went on to coach Junior A lacrosse in Peterborough in 1970, 1971 and 1977. He advanced to coach the Major A Lakers in 1998 where he was named MSL Coach of the Year. At the professional level, he was assistant coach with the NLL Philadelphia Wings in 1974 and head coach of the Maryland Arrows in 1975.

At the international level, Don was an assistant coach of the Canadian Field Lacrosse Team in 1978, again in 1982, and was convener of the team in 1990.

Don started writing a weekly sports column in the Peterborough Examiner in 1995, and continues to do so today. In 2008, he wrote a 600-page history of lacrosse in Peterborough: “Lacrosse: The Peterborough Way”. He went on to write two novels on lacrosse, Moon and Me (2009) and Stickman (2012).