B
rendan Curry had given up on the Orange when they trailed Cornell by three goals with five and a half minutes left in the 2009 NCAA title game. The then-10-year-old stomped up the stairs into his bedroom and began to cry.
Curry’s father Todd continued watching, and two minutes later, Syracuse scored. Curry heard Todd’s loud cheer and crept down the stairs just enough so that he could glance at the replay. But he stayed put even as the Orange quickly scored another goal. With four seconds left, Syracuse tied the game at nine, and Todd pulled his son off the staircase to watch the overtime period.
It took Syracuse just two minutes to find the game-winner, and the once teary-eyed Curry bolted outside his home, running around the streets joyously screaming. Years later, the two cherish that moment as more than just a shared enjoyment of the championship — it also instilled an important value of belief in Curry that mimics the identity of Syracuse’s storied lacrosse program.
“It’s not like I created the lesson,” Todd said. “The Syracuse lacrosse team gave me an illustration to say, ‘Look what just happened. You just got to believe.’”
Todd, a three-time All-American at Syracuse from 1984-87, holds SU lacrosse values close to him and has passed them onto Curry, he said. Now entering his fifth season at Syracuse and his third straight as captain — the program’s second three-time captain — Curry is on track to follow in his father’s footsteps, having already been named an All-American twice. But in his final season, Curry wants to achieve something his father couldn’t: hoist a national championship for the Orange, just like he saw in 2009.
Curry was 5 years old when he first truly experienced Syracuse lacrosse. He met Roy Simmons III, the current Director of Operations and Todd’s teammate in the late 80s, at the Curry house in Lutherville, Maryland.
Simmons pulled Curry aside and handed him a Syracuse pin before bringing him into Todd’s home office, telling the young Curry about the importance of SU lacrosse’s family legacy.
“You’re a first-born son. It’s meant for you to come to Syracuse,” Simmons said to Curry, who, during his junior year of high school, decided on Syracuse after initially committing to University of Pennsylvania.
It was around the time that Curry met Simmons that he also began playing lacrosse. Todd taught him the basic fundamentals, and they played catch in their backyard and drew up their own unique plays. Curry always came back to his father for more backyard practice sessions, always wanting to learn more from his father about the sport.
Todd later became Curry’s first lacrosse coach on a recreational team. One of the first skills Todd taught the team was recovering ground balls. Once his players were in a ground ball huddle, Todd instructed the group of 5- and 6-year-olds to pick the ball up and bring it to their face mask, securing it tightly to successfully navigate the scrum.
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Curry applied his father’s instruction, but he took it too literally. When he picked the ball up in crowds, he pinned it directly against his mask so the ball had no way to fall out before he ran the entire field for a goal, which is illegal in lacrosse.
“He’s a listener and he’s an implementer,” Todd said. “If you teach him something, he’ll do it.”
Curry’s friends always joke that his game is a version of Todd’s. But this makes perfect sense, Curry said, since Todd taught him almost everything he knows about lacrosse. At Syracuse, Curry relies on his powerful shot and speed, the same strengths Todd used as a former professional, said Curry’s shooting coach Torre Kasemeyer.
Kasemeyer has worked with Curry since his freshman season at Calvert Hall College High School (Md.), but he also played with Todd during his last year on Baltimore’s Mount Washington Lacrosse Club. According to Kasemeyer, Todd was a low to high step-down shooter. Curry’s shooting game depends on the dodge, Kasemeyer said, since his shot is not as powerful as Todd’s.
Curry had a short sidearm shooting stroke that Kasemeyer immediately tried to make more overhand, similar to Todd’s. So the two agreed on a hybrid shooting motion that combined what Kasemeyer was trying to implement with what Curry had already established.
Still, speed is how the Currys have made a name for themselves. Curry is now one of the fastest players in college lacrosse, Kasemeyer said, especially in an era where players have a noticeable size advantage compared to when Todd played, leading Kasemeyer to believe that Curry is the quicker of the two.
Curry’s speed took over his game while he was a senior at Calvert Hall when head coach Bryan Kelly moved him from the attack to the midfield, his mother Erin said. Kelly said he focused on teaching Curry proper field acumen, tempo and awareness which shaped Curry into one of the best midfielders he’s ever coached.
“When we needed a goal, we went to Brendan,” Kelly said.
Curry has known the Kellys since he began playing youth sports. Kelly and Todd briefly played against each other, and they also took turns coaching various youth sports teams that Curry and Kelly’s son, Jacob Kelly, played for.
Just like the Currys, Jacob played at his father’s alma mater — North Carolina. The two played on almost every lacrosse team together throughout their childhood, one being the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) lacrosse club.
FCA combines teaching lacrosse along with faith to its athletes. It’s where Jacob said he and Curry simultaneously developed their relationships with Christianity, learning through Bible readings at the club’s huddles. It’s an interest that was passed down from both their fathers.
“He’s a man of faith, just like his dad and my dad,” Jacob said. “(Curry) prides himself on that, too.”
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Like his father, Curry has continued to blend faith and lacrosse while at Syracuse. In his junior season, he started a team-wide Bible study and plans to continue that in 2022, his final chance at a national championship with SU.
“It’s been my lifelong dream to win a national championship here,” Curry said. “Just (getting) the opportunity to go out on the right note. (It) couldn’t end like last year.”
Todd told Curry about his storied lacrosse career and how passionate he was about working on his game. Curry spent his entire childhood listening to his father’s advice about lacrosse, and he knew he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps.
“I always wanted to be like him and be just as good as him,” Curry said. “Him talking to me and being my role model growing up is kind of the reason why our games are similar and (why) I grew up with a passion for lacrosse, and more importantly, for Syracuse lacrosse.”
Photo courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on February 9, 2022 at 10:06 pm
Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu
