“I was a straight-up lacrosse junkie.”
This might sound like something Pookie from New Jack City might say, but it’s actually from Dr. Fred Opie, a man who loves lacrosse like it was a drug.
For him, lacrosse became the vehicle by which he toured through the trials of life.
While most Black athletes have resumes featuring traditional sports such as football, basketball, track and field or baseball. Rarely do you see lacrosse and hockey.
But that’s exactly what’s Dr. Opie’s featured.
His journey began after his parents moved north from Ossining in upstate New York to Croton-on-Hudson, NY, where his mother was from. That gave his family more opportunities and more exposure to more things, such as sports like soccer, lacrosse and hockey.
He fell in love with hockey in the 5th grade and played it through middle school as a club sport. He also picked up lacrosse, which he felt was an easy transition because of the hand-eye skills required in both.
But as he approached high school, he recognized his path resided not on the ice but on grass.
“Ice hockey I loved,” Dr. Opie told me. “But I knew I couldn’t play it at the next level.”
So he turned his attention to lacrosse.
He played throughout high school and then in junior college at Herkimer Community College in upstate New York. He was recruited by Syracuse and played for the Orange in 1984 and ’85, where they made two NCAA Championship appearances, falling to another lacrosse powerhouse, Johns Hopkins, both times.
Yet that wasn’t an end to his lacrosse career. Instead, it was just a part of his journey.
Freeport, The Rucker Of Lacrosse
Back then, lacrosse wasn’t a nationally popular sport like football or basketball, so it needed a place to showcase the talents of its best players.
While basketball had the Rucker in Harlem, Lacrosse had the Freeport Summer League in Long Island.
For those who don’t know, Long Island was, and is, a hotbed for lacrosse talent. And the Freeport Summer League was home to the best of the best, an event that enabled players to build a rep in the sport.
If you were talented, you could play at Freeport regardless of age or level. For Dr. Opie, this was his measuring stick and the place that both confirmed his lacrosse talents and proved that he belonged.
“That was the affirmation I needed to let me know I could play,” said Opie.
And play he did.
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