2002 University of Northcarolina Men's Lacrosse Media &Information

The Humble Beginnings of a iated with the athletic department as a member Vaunted Program of the business staff and he began to coach the lacrosse team at UNC. Varsity status was offi- Lacrosse, a sport developed by the cially awarded and letters first granted to American Indians, was first introduced at the members of the 1949 team. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in After being accorded varsity status by the 1937. athletic department in 1949, the team was The first Carolina teams in the late 1930s, admitted as a member of the United States which weren’t officially recognized by the Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association in 1950. University's athletic department, used the foot- The 1951 team featured the program's first All- ball team’s discarded helmets and cleats until America player. Nick Sowell was named the team members could afford to buy their own first-team All-America goalie that year by the helmets, gloves and sticks. The team played U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. its home games on a field across the street After Coach Alan Moore left Chapel Hill from Woollen Gymnasium. following the 1953 campaign, the 1954 squad In those days, Carolina played in what was was coached by George Good, a captain in the called the Dixie Lacrosse League with Duke United States Marine Corps, and it posted a University, the University of Virginia, dismal 0-6 mark. It proved to be a foreboding Washington & Lee University, Loyola College ledger because after a six-year period from and the Washington Lacrosse Club. The initial 1949-54, the team’s status as a varsity sport at Carolina teams of the late 1930s were coached Carolina came to an end. For a decade the by Albert C. Cornsweet, a 1929 graduate of men's lacrosse program at the University Brown University. would lie dormant, but by no means perma- Carolina players (clockwise from top left) Most of the players on those early lacrosse nently damaged. Ryan Wade, Alex Martin, Holmes Harden, teams worked part-time jobs to stay in school. Brooks Matthews and Joe Bedell celebrate After all, it was the height of the Great the Tar Heels’ 18-13 victory over Towson Depression. There were some scholarship Permanent Varsity Status in the 1991 NCAA championship game. Granted to Men’s Lacrosse in 1964 Mueller Tutors the Likes of Lacrosse was resurrected at Kramer and Peterson Carolina in 1964 as a varsity program. In 1969, Fred Mueller began a successful It competed on a non-scholarship level four-year run as UNC’s head coach. The 1970 for 10 years prior to moving up to Tar Heels were Mueller’s best team as it fin- awarding scholarships with the arrival ished seventh in the country in the USILA poll of head coach Paul Doty during the with a 9-2 record. Among Mueller’s great 1973-74 school year. players were Peter Kramer, who won the Kelly Despite its rather brief history on Award as the nation’s outstanding goalkeeper campus in comparison to other UNC in 1969, and attackman Harper Peterson, who, sports, North Carolina lacrosse has just like Kramer, was named a first-team All- been something very special. America three times in his career. Since 1949 the all-time Tar Heel Tar Heel fencing coach Ron Miller took record stands at 332-202-2. Tar Heel over the coaching duties on an interim basis teams have won NCAA Division I and led the team to a 12-5 record in 1973. national championships in 1981, 1982, Those 12 wins stood as Carolina’s school 1986 and 1991, Carolina teams have record for victories in a season until it was bro- also captured Atlantic Coast ken by the 1982 national championship squad. Conference championships in 1981, The Tar Heels also set a school record in 1973 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, for regular-season games played in a season 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996. with 17 contests on tap. The 1981 and 1982 teams won 26 Carolina lacrosse entered a new era in 1974 games in succession, comprising one of when the program hired Paul Doty as the first the Top 10 longest winning steaks in full-time head coach in school history. That collegiate lacrosse history. Twenty same year, the team moved up to scholarship times since first qualifying in 1976 the status with the first athletic grants in aid in the Steve Martel (#6) and Pat Welsh (#26) celebrate Tar Heels have competed in the NCAA sport being awarded during the 1974-75 school Welsh’s last second goal which lifted the Tar Heels Division I Men’s Lacrosse year. to an 11-10 victory over Johns Hopkins in 1985 at Championship. Doty led UNC to national Top 10 rankings Fetzer Field. After a pair of losing seasons in in both 1976 and 1977 and to UNC’s first two 1966 and 1967, Jim Bischoff, whose NCAA Tournament appearances. Another team was winless in 1967, coached the Heels football players who competed in the sport as program milestone achieved under Doty’s to a 7-4 mark in 1968. In addition, Bischoff’s tutelage was Carolina’s 13-10 victory over well. Rumor has it that Carolina football 1968 team was the first Tar Heel squad to earn coach Ray Wolf made the football players Virginia during the 1976 season. It marked the a national ranking from the USILA, finishing first time Carolina had ever defeated either compete in the sport of lacrosse so they’d learn 25th in the final poll. how to run. Maryland or Virginia, the two schools which In the late 1940s, Bill Darden became affil- had dominated ACC lacrosse up to that point 38 2002 University of NorthCarolina Men’s Lacrosse Media &Information Guide Follow Carolina Lacrosse on the Internet www.tarheelblue.com UNC--America’s Oldest Public University in time. nament’s 31-year history. In 1981, UNC went through the regular sea- An Era of Excellence under son unbeaten and it was ranked #2 behind three-time defending national champion Johns Willie Scroggs Hopkins entering the tournament. The Tar In 1978, UNC went to the hotbed of college Heels swept to lopsided wins over Syracuse lacrosse, Johns Hopkins University in and Navy in Chapel Hill in the first two rounds Baltimore, and hired the Blue Jays’ top assis- of the tournament before meeting the unbeaten tant, Willie Scroggs, as the Tar Heels’ new Blue Jays in the national championship game head coach. It was a move that bore fruit for a at Princeton’s Palmer Stadium. Before a dozen years until Scroggs retired from coach- crowd of 13,943, UNC scored six straight ing at the end of the 1990 season to become goals in the third and fourth quarters to over- associate athletic director for games operations come a three-goal Hopkins advantage and and outdoor facilities at UNC. The decision to eventually triumph 14-13. pursue Coach Scroggs was made by then ath- In 1982, the Heels swept through the regular letic director BillCobey whose philosophy season unscathed. In the NCAA Tournament, was that you go to the best program in the UNC routed Navy and Cornell, setting up a game and recruit a top assistant to build your championship game rematch with Johns program. Hopkins. In a game dominated by the two Tar Heel teams were 120-37 during the teams’ defenses, UNC beat the Blue Jays 7-5 Scroggs era and were invited to the NCAA behind five goals by junior attackman David Tournament 11 straight seasons from 1980 through 1990. In nine of Scroggs’ 12 years, NCAA Tournament Appearance UNC made the NCAA Tournament semifinal Leaders (10 or More Appearances) John Webster starred as a dynamic round and the 1981, 1982 and 1986 squads Johns Hopkins. 30 attackman on some outstanding teams in won the NCAA Division I championship. The Maryland. 25 the early 1990s including the 1991 NCAA Tar Heels were 17-8 in NCAA post-season Virginia . 25 championship team and the 1993 NCAA play during his tenure. Scroggs’ teams won Syracuse . 21 finalist squad. ACC titles in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989 North Carolina. 20 and 1990. In addition, the 1982 team finished Navy . 20 a 12-10 quarterfinal win at Maryland, UNC the season ranked #1 in the nation in the final Cornell. 15 headed to the first-ever NCAA Lacrosse Final USILA poll. Loyola . 14 Four. Carolina was well prepared heading to When Scroggs announced his retirement in Massachusetts . 13 Delaware for the semifinals and it avenged a May of 1990, the University turned to Dave Army . 12 16-4 regular-season loss to two-time defending Klarmann, who had been the top assistant to Princeton. 12 NCAA champion Johns Hopkins by beating Scroggs for 11 seasons. The move paid off in Brown . 11 the Blue Jays 10-9. Carolina won on senior instant results. In Klarmann’s first season at Hofstra . 11 Mike Tummillo’s goal off a Gary Seivold the helm of the Tar Heels, he led the team to a Notre Dame. 10 assist a little over two minutes into the extra 16-0 record and the 1991 NCAA and ACC (through 2001 NCAA Tournament) period. Two days later against Virginia, UNC championships. That team also finished first and the Cavaliers traded the lead throughout in the USILA poll for only the second time in Atlantic Coast Conference Men's the championship contest with neither team school history. Lacrosse Titles holding more than a two-goal advantage at any In 1993, the Heels again finished first in the Maryland .

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