The First Two Years

Georgia Lacrosse Club: The First Two Years

University of Georgia lacrosse traces its roots back to 1974-75, when the current club program
was begun. However, what could be dubbed the “modern era” had its own antecedents. Lacrosse
was first played at UGA from 1926 to 1932, before it folded during the Depression. In those
early days, Georgia’s stickmen played such teams as Virginia, and Maryland. In 1964 and 1965
efforts at UGA to initiate lacrosse culture in the Deep South again met with short-lived success.

In 1974, however, another band of pioneers finally succeeded in launching a program that
has been sustained ever since and has emerged as one of the region’s strongest collegiate club
teams. But “success” is a relative term and the early group was more rag-tag scrappers than
a disciplined team. Jere Wells, a transfer student who had learned the rudiments of the game
at W&L, and friends Bruce Faurot and Beau Wilson, who had attended Episcopal School in
Alexandria,VA, decided that if lacrosse was going to happen at Georgia, they would have to start
it. They posted a Call-to-Sticks announcement in Stegeman Gym, and on the strength of more
than thirty interested respondents, they approached Dr. Bowen of the P.E. department about
adding lacrosse to the program. He authorized the purchase of $600 worth of sticks and balls,
and the fledging group was on its way.

On any given fall Sunday in 1974, six or seven enthusiasts would be seen out on the intramural
fields, throwing the ball around and drawing curious stares and bemused comments from
passersby. In addition to Faurot, Wells, and Wilson, the small band included experienced players
Hal Philipson (of Ithaca, NY), Gary Stewart (of Towson, MD), Harvey Holman (of Mineola,
NY), Dan Mooney (of Devon, PA) and soon others who had some experience or at least interest.
They had no gloves, no helmets, no goals, but a lot of fun. Encouraged by their growing
numbers, they registered the “Georgia Lacrosse Club” with the university that fall and held their
first organizational meeting. Over a dozen new faces showed up, most of whom had lacrosse
experience. The small group had a couple of gatherings that roughly approximated practices,
and then sought out a scrimmage with the established teams in Atlanta. With the Dogs attired
in a motley collection of T-shirts, the skirmishes against Ga. Tech and the Atlanta Lacrosse
Club (ALC) brought nothing approaching victory, but did result in the group’s first official
jerseys. The scrimmages made the news on Channel 5 Sports, and the next day Mr. Beaver, the
Georgia football team equipment manager, called Wells in and said that if this club was going
to represent the university, it had better look good, whereupon he gave the club a set of used
Georgia Varsity football jerseys.

From there, the club initiated its inaugural season in the spring of 1975. The opening game,
against ALC, was a 10-4 loss, but a reputation for scrappiness began that day with a couple
of hockey-style melees. The second game was against the Citadel down in Charleston, again
a loss, 14-11. Next, a loss at Tech, 10-4. But the team began to gel and to learn from its more
experienced players, which included Owen McFadden, a vet student who had earned All-
American honors at Navy, John Elmore, a law student from Niagara, NY, and Mark McCubbin,
from Maryland. A road trip to Nashville brought the first win, 10-5 against Tennessee (and
then a humbling 9-4 loss to Vanderbilt). The Red & Black even wrote celebratory articles (“Lax
Dogs Rout Volunteers”). The buoyant team hosted the Citadel and thrashed them 11-4. A small
band of 12 even ventured up to Sewanee and notched another 6-3 win. The Cinderella team
returned to reality at the end of the season with a home game embarrassment, a 17-2 loss to
Tech. But in that defeat they also found a coach. Tech’s coach Kurt Knisely, who had starred at
Adelphi, informed the Dogs at the end of the game that he was moving to the Athens area that
summer and would be glad to help out. The season ended with a 3-5 record, but also an intense
commitment to the game and improving the team.

1976 was the miracle season that helped establish the legacy of Georgia lacrosse as a Southeast
power. Joining our seasoned corps were experienced talents such as Jim Chapman, Clark
Heindel, Josh Watt (also a Georgia varsity football player), and Dan Meeder, a gifted attackman
and playmaker from Baltimore. The homegrown talent also matured into a force to be reckoned
with. Defensemen Gary Pasek, Mike Zager and Mike Collver were physically dominating
and rapidly improving skill players. Wells developed into an offensive threat at midfield. The
roster that spring featured 22 players, a number of whom were inexperienced players but good
athletes, such as Everett Kugler and Tommy Barnett, who were eager to learn a new game.
Under Knisely’s tutelage, the team developed more sophisticated offensive and defensive team
play and scheduled games against dominating teams who had a lot to teach the young team. The
Yale Bulldogs beat the tar out of the Georgia Bulldogs, but the local boys learned, as they also
did against an equally gifted N.C State team. The rest of the season went largely Georgia’s way.
Teams they had lost to the previous year they now defeated soundly. Most memorable was the
season-ending 17-6 trouncing of arch-rival Georgia Tech. By season’s end, the Bulldogs had
amassed a 9-1 record in the Southeasten Lacrosse League, won the League title, and placed five
players—Meeder, Mooney, Pasek, Watt, and Wells—on the SELL All-Star team.

1975 Team

Front Row (L-R) Bruce Faurot, George Corey, Rick Morris, Gary Stewart, Tom Barnett, Bill
Cleveland; Middle Row (L-R) Jere Wells, Hal Philipson, Milton Sams, Hugh Holman, John
Elmore, Joe Zager; Back Row (L-R) Faculty Advisor Prof. Bernie Morrell, Dan Mooney, Tom
McLennon, Beau Wilson, Chuck Sapp, John Robinson, Kirk Schambarger, Owen McFadden,
Mike Zager, Gary Pasek

1976 Team

Front (L-R) Bob Pusey, Todd Jarrell, John Elmore, Jim Chapman, Hal Philipson, Frank Wills,
Don Stewart, Clark Heindel, Everett Kugler, Mike Levine Back Row (L-R) Coach Bill Peters,
Coach James Alexander, Mike Collver, Gary Stewart, Dan Meeder, Dennis Simeone, Doug
Wright, Jere Wells, Diane Tipton, Cari Blackston, Josh Watt, Don Chandler, John Giannini,
Gary Pasek, George Corey, Dan Mooney, Coach Owen McFadden, Coach Kurt Knisely