Lacrosse Legends

Dwight Maetche was born in Edmonton and was recruited to play goal for the BC Jr. League Burnaby Cablevision. He was a Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) all-star in 1980 and ’81.

Maetche played 24 WLA seasons from 1982 to 2007 with the Vancouver Burrards, North Shore/Okanagan, and Victoria. He is a seven-time WLA all-star, the WLA’s top goaltender five times, and was MVP in 1988.

In 378 league and playoff games he faced 15,238 shots, allowing 3,215 goals for a career save average of 78.9% Maetche was an offensively minded goalie, scoring one goal and adding 317 assists. He won Mann Cups with the Victoria Shamrocks in 2003 and 2005.

Between 1992 and 2007, Maetche played 55 NLL games with the Philadelphia Wings, Charlotte Cobras, New York Saints, Vancouver Ravens, Edmonton Rush and Portland LumberJax.

During this time, he compiled 24 wins and 31 losses with a goals-against-average of 13.37.

Robert Hanna was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997 as a player for Toronto and Jim Bishop. He won the Merv McKenzie MVP Trophy in the 1967 senior “A” series and was a member of Pro Lacrosse Detroit in 1968. Hanna was also a Mann Cup finalist for three of four consecutive years between 1964 and 1967.

Russ Heard was a stellar lacrosse player whose career spanned over 20 years in Jr. A, WLA and the NLL.

In the WLA, Heard scored more than 1,000 points, was three times WLA scoring leader, and was twice elected League MVP.

In 1993 he set five WLA playoff scoring records, including scoring 6 goals in one period.

In 2000, he won an NLL Champions Cup with the Toronto Rock.

In 2013, the Burnaby Lakers retired his jersey; the first Laker to be so honored.

Heard was a head coach in the WLA for seven seasons, and in 2015, was an assistant coach with the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

NAME: William “Whitey” Frick

INDUCTED: 1997 TEAM: St. Catharines
POSITION: Builder – COACH & BUILDER OVER 35 YEARS – ST. CATHARINES OLD BOY’S ASSOCIATION 30 YEARS – MAYOR’S AWARD OF MERIT 1992

William "Whitey" Frick of St. Catharines excelled at lacrosse.

He was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1999. Frick played forward, defense as well as goal in his career.

Frick was the goaltender for the St. Catharines Athletics who won the Minto Cup (Junior Championship) in 1947.

Frick would also win the Mann Cup as senior champion of Canada a year earlier. Frick served as a backup goalie for the senior Athletics thus winning the senior championship a year prior to winning the junior title.

Frick also played junior hockey in the mid 1940's with the highly touted St. Catherines Falcons of the Ontario Hockey Association. After his junior stint, Frick ventured to Scotland to play for the Ayr Raiders.

According to an Ayr 1948 game program "Whitey introduced hustle and gave us a sample of the form which brought him to the attention of the National Hockey League in Canada."

Frick later spent many years as a referee in the OHA . Today, Frick remains active with the "Old Boys Lacrosse Association"

Dave Durante - Colourful nicknames have followed Dave Durante throughout his two decade lacrosse career: Dave the Magnificent, Dandy Dave and Dave the Dude; all adorned him as well
as one of his tailored silk suits, but sobriquets notwithstanding, he has always been a
winner.

Few, if any, players can boast victories in lacrosse’s four major championships.
He took part in 9 Mann Cup series, winning the Canadian title 5 times. He was a
member of the 1971 Richmond Roadrunners that upset favoured Peterborough for the
Minto Cup junior title.

In 1975, he toiled for the National Lacrosse League Quebec Caribous that captured the professional championship. And he was a member of the Canadian rep team that won the World Field Lacrosse title in Manchester, England, in 1978.

Lacrosse has long been Durante’s passion and pastime, but this was not always the case. When Durante was a youngster, he was content to restrict his lacrosse activities to watching father Joe Durante and Uncle John Cervi play senior ball...mind you, Durante did play a little catch in his backyard, but baseball, soccer, hockey and high school football quenched his athletic thirst.

Listing his sports reveals why he had little time for organized lacrosse.

At Notre Dame High School, he was quarterback and safety for the first Jugglers team to win the Shrine Bowl. As a shortstop, he caught the eye of major league scouts from the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.

When his hopes for a college baseball scholarship in the U.S. did not materialize, he enrolled at the University of B.C. where he played hockey and soccer while working towards a Bachelor degree in Physical Education.

Impressed with his hockey prowess, the Detroit Red Wings offered him a spot in its farm system; and his skills as a midfielder earned him an offer to join a Fourth Division soccer club in England.
He declined the hockey and soccer overtures and decided to take his backyard lacrosse into
a box. At the age of 18, Durante tried out for the Vancouver Junior B squad and was an
instant success, racking up 22 goals and 20 assists in 18 games.

He moved to the Richmond Junior A team the following year, gathering 30 goals and 23 assists on the way to the 1971 Minto Cup title. Richmond lost the national championship the
following season but his 36 goals and 31 assists were enough to impress the Senior teams.

The WLA overage junior draft was introduced in 1973 and Coquitlam, with first
pick, selected him.

Despite a painful ankle injury that often cut his speed in half, Durante picked up 26 goals and 23 assists and was named the WLA Rookie-of-the-Year.

After capturing the WLA scoring title in 1974, he joined the Quebec entry in the National Lacrosse League, earning 242 points in 60 league and playoff games. It was back to Coquitlam in 1976 for a 4-year stint until he was traded to the Salmonbellies prior to the 1980 season. He remained there for the next 12 seasons before retiring in 1991 at the age of 39.

“I had a passion for the game,” he once told a reporter. “I am proud of what I accomplished statistic-wise, but more than that, I was a team player, that’s what I was all about.”

He has scored 351 WLA playoff points, a league record. He once held the Mann Cup assist
record, later broken by ex-teammate Geordie Dean, but he is still the fourth highest
Mann Cup point getter with 105.

His league, playoff and Mann Cup points total 1,509, is third behind only Wayne Goss and Paul Parnell on the all-time WLA scoring list. His pro Quebec stats of 242 raised his career point total to 1,751.

He was named the Mike Kelly Award winner (Mann Cup MVP) in 1976, won the Maitland Trophy for sportsmanship in 1974 and was placed on the WLA All--Star Team 8 times.

Of course, as previously mentioned, he took the Rookie-of-the-Year honours in 1973.

He was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997.

Jim Brady - Inducted CLHOF: 1998

Team: Whitby / St. Catharines
Position: Builder
– Minto Cup Championship Teams 1980, 90, 91, 97.
– OLA JR.”A” Coach of the Year 1984, 89, 98.
– Teams under his direction have amassed over 475 wins

James "Jim" Brady has had a long and distinguished role in the development of lacrosse in Whitby and southern Ontario.

He first organized and ran the Lacrosse program for the Oshawa Recreation department from 1953 to 1955. In 1960 he organized the Oshawa Minor Lacrosse Association. He then organized Peewee and Bantam teams to play in the Brooklin Minor Lacrosse League in 1964 and organized the Garrard Road Minor Lacrosse Association in 1965. In 1966 he coached the Garrard Road team as they won the Peewee 'C' Provincial Championship which was followed up by the same team winning the Bantam 'C' Provincial Championship in 1967 with Jim again as coach.

In 1968 Jim joined the Whitby and Garrard Road Midgets together and finished as the finalists at the Championships. With others, Jim formed the Whitby Junior Lacrosse Association in 1969.

He was: 3rd Vice President of the Ontario Lacrosse Association in 1978 and 1st Vice President in 1979; named Junior 'A' Coach of the Year by the Ontario Lacrosse League in 1984, 1989, 1998; Sportsman of the Year in St. Catharines in both 1990 and 1991; and winner of the Tip Teather Trophy as Mr. Lacrosse in 1984.

As either a coach or general manager, he has been to six Minto Cups winning the National Championship with Whitby in 1980 and with St. Catharines in 1990 and 1991. In addition his Whitby Juniors won the Junior 'B' National Championship in 1970 and 1974.

Jim was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998.

In addition to those achievements, Jim has served as Ontario Lacrosse Association Major League Commissioner and as the General Manager, Director and Coach of the National Lacrosse League's New Jersey Storm (now the Anaheim Storm). In 2012, Jim was recognized with the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee award for his involvement with lacrosse. Jim was previously inducted into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame as part of a team induction with both the1970 B&R Transporter Jr. 'B' Lacrosse team and the 1980 CBC Builders Jr. 'A' Lacrosse team.

Tom Parker - Manitoba

Tom began playing lacrosse at Kelvin Community Centre when he was 18 years old . Since the early 1960s, he has played a major role in the promotion, development and growth of the sport of lacrosse in Manitoba.

In 1961, Tom took over as player-coach of the Fort Rouge Olympic Lacrosse Club. He later went on to capture four Winnipeg Senior Box Lacrosse League championships: in 1974 and 1975 with the St. Boniface Clubs, and in 1978 and 1983 with the Elmwood Clubs.

During that period, in his role as Physical Education Supervisor for the St. Boniface School Division, Tom encouraged the teaching of lacrosse in the school athletic program. Interest in the game continued to gain momentum and soon spread to other school divisions, leading to provincial junior high ‘soft lacrosse’ competitions.

Ultimately, Tom, along with a group of teachers from various school divisions with connections to the game, initiated the high school field lacrosse competition in the mid-1980s; that continues on to this day.

Meanwhile, when he wasn’t occupied with coaching the Glenlawn High School team, Tom was busy organizing the Summer Field Lacrosse League as well as conducting lacrosse workshops for other physical education supervisors and their school divisions, women’s lacrosse groups, Manitoba’s universities, rural communities and First Nations’ reserves.

The high point of Tom’s lacrosse experiences was associated with coaching the Manitoba Senior Men’s Field Lacrosse Team which won the Canadian Division II Field Lacrosse Championship in 1985, and repeated as champions again in 1986.

As an administrator, Tom served a lengthy term as president of the Manitoba Lacrosse Association and simultaneously sat on the Board of the Canadian Lacrosse Association until 1992.

He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation, 1996-1998. For his significant contributions to the sport of lacrosse, Tom has been duly recognized with several awards, most notably the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012 and the
Canada 125 Medal in 1994.

Tom is an original member of the Manitoba Lacrosse Hall of Fame and currently serves as president of the organization.

Gordon Gimple

Gord Gimple played on Minto Cup championship teams in 1954 and 1956 before graduating to Senior.

One of the few players who was effective shooting from either side; he scored 540 goals and 417 assists in his 11-year career.

He was the winner of the Maitland Trophy a record-breaking 6 times and a member of the ICLL all-star team 8 times.

He coached the Coquitlam and Portland Adanacs.

William K.C. "Casey" Cook was born in The Hague, Holland in 1945 and his family moved to Burnaby, BC in 1950.

He graduated from Burnaby Central high school and played his junior lacrosse in
Coquitlam, played up for the senior Adanacs in 1966 and 1967, and played 14 games of
Senior for Coquitlam.

In 1969 he joined the New Westminster Blues of the Inter-City amateur league and also played for the Salmonbellies. In the same year he joined the staff of the Vancouver Parks Board, where he would stay as an administrator for the next 34 years. Before joining the Salmonbellies’ organization, he was with the Burnaby Cablevision lacrosse team for 6 years.

Casey Cook is an organizational bungy jumper - when a situation needs addressing, confront it boldly and leap feet first into a solution. It’s not that he’s a compulsive overachiever but, rather, an individual who loves a challenge.

Born May 11, 1945, in The Hague, Netherlands, little Cornelis arrived in Canada shortly before his fifth birthday with his parents and four siblings. The family settled down in South Burnaby where young Cook picked up his “Casey” nickname and a lifelong love for the game of lacrosse.

After moving through the South Burnaby minor box lacrosse system, Casey joined the Coquitlam Junior A team for the 1966 and 1967 seasons, accumulating 42 points in 32 games.

Lacrosse in B.C. tasted professional status in 1968, but not wishing to endure lengthy road trips after completing a 4-year scholarship at the University of Michigan, Casey opted to turn senior with the Coquitlam amateur team - the Adanacs, who were now playing out of Portland, Oregon.

“I don’t really recall what I did,” said Cook when asked about his rookie season. “It’s
not that important.” But what he accomplished was to take the 1968 scoring title.

The following season, he transferred to the New Westminster Blues and was instrumental in
leading them to a Mann Cup final. In all, Cook picked up 145 points in 62 senior games.

By now, however, his interests turned to coaching youngsters. In addition to his job
with the City of Vancouver Recreational Department, Casey coached minor teams in
South Burnaby from 1968 to 1973 and held down the association presidency the latter
two years.

In 1974, Casey turned his full attention to coaching the Burnaby Cablevision Junior B team, taking the club to four national finals and to the 1977 Canada Games.

Following the 1979 season, he left Burnaby and began his lengthy relationship with the
New Westminster Salmonbellies.

“Lloyd Solomon telephoned me and asked if I would be the ‘bellies’ GM,” he recalled. “I jumped at the challenge.” The ‘bellies went to the Mann Cup finals in 1980, but began the following season with a poor 3 and 8 record. Casey assumed the coaching duties, halted the losing woes and directed the team to the Canadian title.

With the exceptions of 1984 and 1989 when he co-coached the club with John Hannah, Casey placed all of his efforts into the management end of team business. In 1985, Casey took over the role of Salmonbellies president, a position he held until 2000 when growing outside commitments forced him to step down; however, he remained with the team as vice-president.

What were his teams’ records over the 20 years? 4 Mann Cups in 11 trips to the Canadian finals. Somehow, during the same period of time, the durable Dutchman managed to squeeze in time to sit on the WLA Board of Governors for 15 years, three of them as Chair; act as Treasurer for the
Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame; serve a 5-year stint with the CLA box sector, the last
two as Chair; and serve on several BCLA committees.

Obviously, people took notice.

Casey won the WLA Coach of the Year honours in 1984 and 1989 and Executive of the
Year in 1989 and 1992. The BCLA named him Coach of the Year in 1978, 1981 and 1989.
In 1990, the CLA presented him with its Award of Distinction.

Morley Kells was born in Midland, Ontario in 1936.

He was raised in Mimico in the southern part of Etobicoke in west Toronto, Ontario.

He was a lacrosse player from 1954 to 1961.

In 1955, Kells became a Minto Cup champion with the Canadian Junior Lacrosse Long Branch team. He worked as a coach in the 1960s and 1970s, and started the semi-professional Ontario Lacrosse Association in 1972.

In 1974-75, he co-founded the National Lacrosse League, with six teams in Canada and the United States. He received the Lester B. Pearson Award for contribution to sport in 1973, and was named to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1976.

Kells also worked as a journalist, writing for The Telegram newspaper and serving as communications accounting executive for MacLaren Advertising. From 1965 to 1970, he served as the creative director for Hockey Night in Canada. From 1990 to 1995, he served as president of the Urban Development Institute of Ontario.