University of North Carolina Athletics
From Fetzer To Finley
December 19, 2003 | Men's Lacrosse
Dec. 19, 2003
By Dave Lohse
Associate Athletic Communications Director
On Saturday, November 22, 2003, Willie Scroggs of the University of North Carolina became the first Tar Heel to ever be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In honor of the occasion following is the text of the speech I delivered while introducing Coach Scroggs for induction into the North Carolina Lacrosse Hall of Fame in April 2002.
First off, I want to thank the people responsible for this amazing dinner. I hope this is the start of a great tradition for us here in North Carolina. Second, I want to say how humbled I am to be given the opportunity to induct Coach Willie Scroggs as a member of the inaugural class of the North Carolina Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
I'll never forget the afternoon in May of 1990 when Willie told me he was retiring as the head lacrosse coach at the University of North Carolina. The news hit me like a ton of bricks.
Actually John Swofford, who was then the athletic director at Carolina, eased me into the news. He called me down for a meeting on Thursday, May 17, 1990-those momentous dates stick in your mind-to warn me that the following Sunday, when the Tar Heels played an NCAA quarterfinal game against Harvard, could be Willie's last game as the head coach. Willie was in the room at the time and as the entourage left I told Willie, "You know, I'll never get over this."
It's 12 years later now and to some extent I'm still not over it. A little over a week after that meeting in John Swofford's office, Willie Scroggs' coaching career came to an end, but certainly not his influence as an ambassador for lacrosse. Let me assure you, I was a recipient of the largesse of his ambassador like skills for the sport he loves.
During the 12 years that Willie coached at Carolina lacrosse became my favorite sport, even surpassing basketball in my estimation, and that is a strong statement for a native Hoosier. I grew up as a working class stiff in the shadow of the steel mills in Gary, Ind. What I knew about lacrosse was that rich preppie kids played it on the East Coast. Most people where I grew up viewed La Crosse as a town in Wisconsin where they brewed and still brew some amazing Midwestern beers.
What was great about Willie's tenure at Carolina was that I was just one of many who developed an intense love for the sport. The marvelous program Willie built during his 12 years as the Tar Heel head coach made a lot of folks into lacrosse fans who quite honestly previously did not have much of a clue about the sport. And although lacrosse is by no means the official sport of North Carolina--there are too many golf courses around here for that to happen-it is now played and watched on a much larger scale in the Tar Heel State than when Willie Scroggs first arrived in Chapel Hill to coach the Tar Heels in 1978. In fact I don't think it is too strong a statement to say that Willie Scroggs deserves as much credit as anyone for making North Carolinians aware of what a great sport lacrosse is and can be.
efore Coach Scroggs left his job as an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins in 1978 to venture to Chapel Hill, the Tar Heel program had enjoyed some limited success. UNC had been to the NCAA Tournaments in 1976 and in 1977 but the Heels had never won an ACC championship or an NCAA Tournament game.
Then came the Scroggs era. In those 12 years the Tar Heels were 120-37 including a sterling mark of 17-8 in the NCAA Tournament. Six of Willie's teams won the ACC championship. Nine of the 12 teams ended the season ranked in the Top 5 in the country. Nine of the teams reached the semifinals or finals of the NCAA Tournament. The 1981 and 1982 teams were unbeaten national champions and the 1986 team still is the lowest seeded team to ever win an NCAA men's lacrosse title.
All in all, Willie led his teams at Carolina out on the field 157 times. But it isn't even the games I remember as fondly as the post-game tailgates, the loyal parents, the amazing collection of players he recruited, the groupies who followed the team, the celebrations after especially sweet victories, the frustrations after crushing defeats, the tears, the smiles and the things that make the game so human and so exhilarating.
Willie has been a full-time administrator now for 12 years. The players he recruited who have gone on to great success in their chosen careers carry on his legacy. Many of the New Yorkers and Baltimore folks he recruited to play at Chapel Hill settled here in North Carolina to raise their families and jump start their careers so he has had a positive economic impact on the Tar Heel State. And there are many high school and college coaches out there who were part of Willie's program at Carolina including folks like John Haus, Dave Klarmann, Richie Meade, Jim Buczek, Joe Breschi, Joey Seivold, Pat Olmert and Don Zimmerman among others.
Of course Willie is the luckiest many alive because he is married to best field hockey coach in the country, Karen Shelton, and William, who was born just two months before his retirement from coaching, is now just past his 12th birthday, which is hard to believe. With a family like that and a job as one of the ablest of administrators at Carolina who needs coaching.
Therefore, for all his contributions to his adopted University but even more so for his contributions as an ambassador for lacrosse that have fomented the growth of lacrosse in the Tar Heel State it is my distinct privilege to introduce to you for membership in the inaugural class of the North Carolina Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Coach Willie Scroggs.
