Roy Simmons Jr. had a requirement for each player that joined the Syracuse lacrosse team when he took over the program from his father in 1971.

‘When you come to Syracuse your first-born male child is owed to Syracuse University. That’s all I ever ask of you,’ he would say.

Simmons may not have been serious, but it was indicative of the family atmosphere that Syracuse has developed as part of its recipe for success through the years.

The tradition of players following family members has become ingrained in lacrosse programs across the nation. The steady influx of talented players from proud lacrosse backgrounds has fueled a spike in the competitive balance throughout the sport. But perhaps no other school has benefited from its family ties more than Syracuse.

Under head coach John Desko, the Orange has continued that strong family tradition. His son, Tim Desko, is a senior attack for Syracuse this season. Assistant coach Kevin Donahue has two sons, Collin and Dylan Donahue, on the team, adding to the family legacy at Syracuse. Under the direction of their parents, the sons have been fully immersed in the sport since they were able to pick up a stick.

‘I’ve been around the program my entire life watching the Powells, the Gaits when I was little, and all those players and being around the tradition of the program as a family atmosphere, it’s great,’ Tim Desko said. ‘I knew I wanted to come here and be a part of it.’

Collin Donahue and Tim yearned for a chance to don the Orange jerseys since they were very young. Tim worked diligently on his own to gather the proper skills necessary to take the step with his father, John, spending much of his time preoccupied with coaching the Syracuse lacrosse team. Tim worked tirelessly sometimes on his own, other times with his mom to sharpen his lacrosse IQ.

Collin, on the other hand, worked under the guidance of his father, Kevin, from an early age, in recreational leagues and even in the front yard before finding himself shoulder-to-shoulder with his dad on the Syracuse sidelines.

‘It’s definitely a cool experience to go from working and talking with my dad at home and translating that to the Division-I level,’ Collin said. ‘To go from stage one, which was at my house growing up in my front yard and listening to what he said, to where we are today, it’s just a cool experience.’

Family connections have developed in the sport of lacrosse across the country, with talented players learning from parents and siblings and moving on to play at the Division-I level in the men’s and women’s game.

Perhaps none is more recognizable today than the last name Stanwick.

Ever since Tad Stanwick wrote and illustrated the first-ever book on the 10-man game of lacrosse, simply titled ‘Lacrosse,’ the Stanwick family has been entrenched in the sport. Tad’s son, Wells, never played the sport – it wasn’t offered in his high school – but he passed down everything he learned from his father to his own children.

All eight of them.

Wells Stanwick’s three oldest daughters were All-Americans at Georgetown. His oldest son, Tad, went on to have a four-year career at Rutgers. This season, Steele Stanwick is joined in the collegiate ranks by his sister, Covie, at Boston College, and by his brother, Wells, at Johns Hopkins. And the youngest brother, Shack, is entering his junior year at Boys’ Latin High School (Md.), but has already committed to play collegiately at Johns Hopkins.

Covie, Wells and Steele would always drag Shack into the backyard, lace him up in goalie gear and fire tennis balls at him in net. The siblings were constantly learning from one another and building their passion for lacrosse.

‘It’s something that’s brought us closer through the years and even as little kids just playing in the backyard,’ Covie said. ‘It’s always something that has brought us closer together and really been a good connection throughout the whole family.’

Tad Stanwick’s grandchildren have done plenty to carry on his legacy.

The Stanwicks are artists on the lacrosse field, giving defenders fits in the attacking zone. Each possesses the innate ability to feed the ball into tight gaps in the defense for fellow attack around the net.

But the family name and lacrosse may not have been one in the same without Steele, a senior at Virginia who won the family’s first national championship last season. Steele was also the 2011 Tewaarton Trophy recipient, awarded to the best individual college lacrosse player.

From there, they used that passion for the sport to find their own fit in college.

‘I think we’re very independent and like to do our own things, and I think every school is different to everyone,’ Steele said.

Before the Stanwicks made headlines in the game, Syracuse boasted families who dominated on the field and left a lasting legacy in the game.

It began when Simmons recruited Gary and Paul Gait to play for the Orangemen in the late 1980s.

With Syracuse on the verge of becoming an elite program, Simmons took a risk. He opened up the offense and allowed the Gait twins to play with a degree of flair and creativity that many other programs frowned upon.

‘Syracuse was it for us,’ Gary Gait said. ‘Realistically the only opportunity we had and we took it and decided we wanted to play together because we thought we were better together. We made the conscious decision and certainly no regrets.’

The fun environment translated into immediate success.

The twins popularized moves such as the around-the-back pass. Gary, who is now the Syracuse women’s lacrosse head coach, put his stamp on the sport with his ‘Air Gait’ move, where he leaped from behind the crease and dunked the ball into the net.

Together the Gait twins each earned three First-Team All-American selections and won three national championships as the faces of the program.

The SU coaches realized there was something special about having that familiarity on the field and recruited the Carthage High School standouts, the Powell brothers, beginning with Casey in 1995 and Ryan in 1997. The youngest brother, Mike Powell, who arrived in 2001, went on to become one of the greatest lacrosse players of all-time.

Roy Simmons III said the knowledge of the sport at an early age translates into success on the field.

‘There’s almost a sixth sense about what they’re doing and how they play the game,’ said Simmons, an SU assistant coach. ‘There’s something very mystical and very spiritual about it and that goes to its roots.’

And often, family ties contribute to that early start in the game. For Syracuse, sons have grown up learning about the program’s history from family members, and their passion for the Orange grows with the game.

John Desko remembers former Syracuse midfielder Dan Hardy and attack Kenny Nims  walking into his office as 10th-graders and expressing that they wanted to join the program, following in their fathers’ footsteps.

Hardy and Nims told Desko they had toured numerous other campuses, met with other coaches, but they simply couldn’t see themselves anywhere but Syracuse. They felt connected with the school after going to numerous games to watch family members and could see themselves succeeding in the same environment.

That affinity for the school has only grown.

Tim Desko and Collin Donahue joined the ranks and each has made their own specific contributions to the program. And John Desko believes it says a lot about the program that family members continue to take the Carrier Dome turf year after year, putting together successful careers for the Orange.

‘It speaks for the program if you have those who are so close, sending their siblings, kids, sons, daughters,’ John Desko said. ‘I think a lot of it has to do with their experience here and their comfort with the program and the coaching staff really.’ 

adtredin@syr.edu

Published on April 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm