Four chosen for hall of fame

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Four Native players will be among those inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum later this year.

Joining the hall via the players' category are Akwesasne's Lawrence Martin Jr. and Dave Sunday, and from Six Nations, Len Moses and Lorne Jamieson.

Sunday and Jamieson will both be inducted posthumously.

Though the list of 10 individuals entering the hall of fame this year was announced in late July, official induction ceremonies will be staged on Oct. 19 in St. Catharines.

The hall and museum, which opened in 1998, is located in a 3,000-square-foot building. It houses memorabilia, some of which is almost 200 years old. Among items in the hall are team sweaters, sticks, photos, Native art, medals and numerous display cases of individual and team championship trophies.

Martin Jr. was shocked when hall officials called to inform him of his upcoming induction.

"I never ever dreamed of this," he said. "I thought they only had hall of fames for sports like basketball, football and baseball. I didn't even know this lacrosse hall of fame existed."

Martin Jr., 57, can be excused for not knowing about the St. Catharines-based hall. For the past 20 years he has lived in El Paso, Texas. He's currently a foreman for a construction company.

But he was certainly an athletic star in his younger years. He began playing junior lacrosse in Quebec at age 15 for the St. Regis Indians. He then played a total of 15 years of senior lacrosse with the St. Regis Mohawks.

Martin Jr. was named the most valuable player of the Eastern Ontario Lacrosse Association three times. He set an EOLA record for most goals in a game (13). He also earned a spot in the league record books for the quickest hat trick, a mere 15 seconds.

Martin Jr. had earned a full athletic scholarship to play field lacrosse at New York's Siena College. While at the school, Martin Jr. also ended up playing for the varsity basketball squad.

Being in Texas now, Martin Jr. does not pick up much lacrosse news.

"If they show it on TV, it's mostly just the college field game," he said, adding he plans on returning to Ontario for his induction ceremony in October.

Moses, who now calls Fort Erie home, also plans on attending the ceremony. He admits if it wasn't for his own stubborness, he might have already been in the hall by now.

Friends and former teammates were keen to nominate him several years ago. But at the time he wasn't willing to co-operate by researching and writing down the spots he played in during his extensive career.

"I've been a loner my whole life," said Moses, now 74. "But I'm real glad I did this. I guess you could say I'm kind of stubborn. But my family kept saying you should do it, you should do it. So I had a change of heart."

Regarded as one of the best defensive players of his era, Moses toiled for various Senior A and Senior B squads from 1949-71. He played for clubs in Windsor, Chatham, Wallace-burg, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Brantford, Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Tuscarora, N.Y. and Toledo, Ohio.

Father Time eventually slowed him down. "It's the only thing I hated about getting old - I had to stop playing lacrosse," he said.

As for Jamieson, he helped teams win three consecutive North American Lacrosse Association championships from 1947-49. His first two titles were with the Rochester Veteran Tigers while the last one was with the Buffalo Athletic Club.

Sunday starred in the sport during the 1970s and 1980s in the Quebec Lacrosse League and the Can-Am Lacrosse League with the Akwesasne Warriors and Cornwall Thunderbirds.

In 1992, he was also a member of the Akwesasne A's, which won the Canadian master's championship.