Harry Nightengale (Winnipeg, MB) – Harry Nightingale was born in 1936 and started playing lacrosse at 12-years-old. He was with the Manitoba Junior All-Stars when the team competed for the Minto Cup in 1955 and contended in the run up to it in 1956 and 1957. Harry was a Manitoba Senior Lacrosse League all-star in 1958, scoring champion in 1965 and 1967, and an all-star and MVP in 1964 and 1967. He played his last season, Senior B, at the age of 40 for the Manitoba Senior All-Stars in 1976. Harry was President of the Manitoba Lacrosse Association from 1964 to 1972 and has served the sport with great distinction not only as a player, but as a coach, manager, referee and administrator of high school box and field lacrosse.
David General (Ohsweken, ON) – David General has led the reemergence of First Nations teams in Canadian lacrosse at the national level. In 1992 he coached the Six Nations Arrows Lacrosse Club to the Minto Cup, the first national Junior A title for a First Nations team in almost 125 years. In 1995 and ’96, he coached the Six Nations Chiefs to Mann Cup victories. David has long been a keen student of lacrosse, learning about training, conditioning, motivation, and game strategy from other sports and incorporating his findings into lacrosse, with an emphasis on discipline and control and winning through preparation.
Player Category-
Gary Gait (Fayettville, New York) – Gary grew up playing various sports with his twin brother Paul in their hometown of Victoria, BC. Arguably one of the best lacrosse players of all time, Gary revolutionized the game as we know it. Known as the Wayne Gretzky of lacrosse, Gary Gait, simply put, is the greatest lacrosse player the world has ever known. Gary has won every possible major lacrosse title a player can win – from Canadian Youth Box Lacrosse National Championships to NCAA and International Lacrosse titles. Gait’s Junior A career with the Victoria-Esquimalt Legion (1983-1988) was remarkable. This 4-time All-Star scored 356 goals, 267 assists in 101 regular season games and added another 183 goals and 149 assists in 56 playoff games. Gait captured his only Minto Cup in 1988 in the final year of Junior. In four years at Syracuse University (1987-1990), the Gaits led the Orange to three NCAA championships. Gary was a 4-time All-American and picked up 1988 NCAA player of the year honours. Gait played Senior A for both Brooklin Redmen and Victoria Shamrocks from 1989-2000. In 65 regular season games, he netted 228 goals and 181 assists for 409 points and added another 286 goals and 202 assists in 107 playoff games. He won three Mann Cups, two with the Shamrocks, and was named Mann Cup MVP in 1997 and co-winner with brother Paul in 1999. Gait won numerous other titles including three Major League Lacrosse titles, three MILL/National Lacrosse League titles, the 2004 Heritage Cup, the 2006 FIL World Lacrosse Championship as a player and most recently winning the 2014 FIL world title as a coach. Other accolades to Gait’s resume include the NLL MVP award a record six times, the MILL championship game MVP twice, and 2005 MLL MVP. He retired as the NLL’s all-time leader in goals (634), assists (526), and points (1160) and remains amongst the all-time leaders. Gary Gait has been inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame (2005), was a charter inductee into the NLL Hall of Fame (2005), the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2010), BC Sports Hall of Fame (2011) and a member of the Victoria Seasprays and 2006 Team Canada teams inducted in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Team Category.
Paul Gait (Albany, New York) – Born in Victoria in 1967, Paul Gait is widely regarded as one of lacrosse’s all-time great players. Paul and twin brother Gary grew up playing all sports and both excelled at anything that they played -- soccer, basketball, rugby, track and field – and of course, lacrosse. Paul also won numerous National titles with his brother and was also a member of the Victoria-Esquimalt Legion Minto Cup championship team in 1988. An ambidextrous shooter, Paul had an outstanding career as a midfielder for the Syracuse University Orangemen (1987-1990.) Averaging 4.45 points per game, Paul led Syracuse to 3 national championships. He was selected as a First Team All-American by the USILA in 1988, ’89 and ’90 and was the Most Outstanding Player of the 1989 NCAA Division 1 Lacrosse Championship Tournament. While at Syracuse Paul set numerous records and popularized innovative moves such as behind-the-back passing and shooting. In 1991 he joined the Detroit Turbos of the National Lacrosse League, the first of six NLL teams he’d play for between 1991 and 2005. Four times he led the NLL in goal scoring. Eight times he was named to the First-Team All Pro. And in 2002 he won the NLL’s MVP award. In total, Paul was on 3 NLL championship teams and he currently ranks as the NLL’s third all-time goal-scorer with 410 and is eighth in points with 712. Lacrosse Magazine and the NCAA named him to its All-Twentieth Century Team and 25th Anniversary Team respectively. Four times he represented Canada at the ILF World Championships, earning All-World honours in 1994. In Canadian Senior A lacrosse Paul was no less outstanding, winning four Mann Cups including one in 1999 with WLA’s Victoria Shamrocks, sharing the MVP trophy with his twin brother Gary. Paul was inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame (2005), inducted as a charter member of the NLL Hall of Fame (2006), the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2010), BC Sports Hall of Fame (2011) and a member of the Victoria Seasprays team inducted in the team category.
Gil Nieuwendyk (Mississauga, ON) – Nieuwendyk spent his entire Junior and Senior lacrosse career in Whitby and Brooklin lacrosse systems playing six Junior A & B seasons in Ajax and Whitby from 1977 to 1982. In 156 regular season Junior games, Nieuwendyk netted 201 goals and 377 points with an additional 112 points (49G, 63A) in 36 playoff games winning one Minto Cup in 1980. In 1983, Gil joined the famed Brooklin Redmen club. Nieuwendyk continued his winning ways capturing three Mann Cups (1985, 1987 & 1988) in only six seasons of Major Series Lacrosse. This born leader captained the Redmen and was a top ten league scorer in each Major season – winning the Bucko MacDonald Trophy as Top Scorer in 1983. In 117 regular season games, he potted 256 goals and 307 assists for 563 points while garnering 273 points (113G, 160A) in 85 playoff games. He was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2012.
Andy Ogilvie (Surrey, BC) – Ogilvie was known as a hard-nosed, tenacious defensive player that had an incredible knack for gathering loose balls – let along a proficient player-maker and scorer. This Ontarian played Junior A lacrosse for the Peterborough Maulers of the Ontario Junior A league where he was named league Best Defensive Player in 1986 en route to a Minto Cup title the same year. In 99 Junior A regular season and playoff games, Ogilvie scored 54 goals and 111 helpers with 185 penalty minutes. In 1987, Ogilvie ventured west to the storied New Westminster Salmonbellies squad where he made an immediate impact where he helped the ‘Bellies to the1989 and 1991 Mann Cup titles. After a 3-year hiatus, he joined the Coquitlam Adanacs in 1998 and went on to win his final Mann Cup in 2001 along with Mann up MVP honours. In 15 WLA seasons for New Westminster and Coquitlam, this 7-time all-star accumulated 157 goals and 406 points while spending 763 minutes in the penalty box. In another 172 playoff games, Ogilvie netted 229 points (103G, 126A) and amassed 562 penalty minutes. In the winter professional National Lacrosse League loop, Ogilivie had stops in Buffalo, Vancouver and Calgary from 1999-2007 where he scored 80 points (11G, 69A) and added 317 penalty minutes in 67 games.
Veteran Player Category-
Reo Jerome (Deceased) – Reo Jerome was born in 1924. After two years of convoy duty in the North Atlantic he played 5 games with the Salmonbellies in 1945. A great leader and a tough competitor, he was with the Salmonbellies through 1948. He had an outstanding season in 1947, scoring 95 points in 24 regular season games, an average of nearly 4 points a game. He was with the New Westminster Adanacs in 1950 when they lost in the seventh and deciding game of the Mann Cup finals to the Owen Sound Mercuries. His last year was in 1952 when he played on the combined Salmonbellies-Adanacs team. Reo played a total of 157 league and playoff games, scoring 265 goals with 171 assists for a total of 436 points. Reo Jerome passed away at the age of 90 in 2014.
Ron Roy (Deceased) – Born in 1936 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Ron Roy played Jr. A lacrosse for St. Catharines, 1953-56, and Sr. A for St. Catharines, Port Credit and Brooklin between 1957 and 1964. His first appearance in a Mann Cup came in 1958 with the Welland-Crowland Switsons. The Switsons lost to the New Westminster Salmonbellies that year, but Ron got another shot at the cup--and won--in 1960 with the Port Credit Sailors. That same year, 1960, Ron was the OLA scoring champion. His last appearance in a Mann Cup came in 1961 when he was picked up by the Brooklin Redmen. During his career in Senior, Major and Pro lacrosse between 1955 and 1974 Ron scored 379 goals with 226 assists in regular season play and 133 goals and 65 assists in 82 playoff games. As a professional player, he was with the St. Catharines Golden Hawks when they won the pro championship in 1969. Voted the player of the 1950’s by the St. Catharines Athletics Lacrosse Club, Ron is a charter member of the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Deeply involved as a lacrosse player, coach, referee, field lacrosse revivalist and manager for over 50 years, Ron Roy passed away in 2007.
Team Category-
The 1983-1993 British Columbia Women’s Field Lacrosse Selects Team – The British Columbia Women’s Field Lacrosse Selects team was formed following the 1982 IFLA Women’s World Cup of Lacrosse and was undefeated against domestic competition between 1983 and 1993, reigning as Canadian champion for 11 consecutive years. The squad frequently toured the eastern USA in the late 1980’s for competitions against club teams and highly ranked NCAA Division 1 teams including Yale, Harvard, Temple and Penn State -- beating them all. The team placed 10 of 16 players on the 1982 Canadian National Women’s Field Lacrosse team and 10 players on the 1986 and 1989 national squads..