Hall of Fame inductee: Tom Mitchell

Five members will be inducted into the Michigan Lacrosse Hall of Fame at a ceremony held Oct. 26. GLS will publish their bios, courtesy of U.S. Lacrosse, over the next five days.

Tom Mitchell (Posthumous induction)

It is entirely appropriate that Tom Mitchell is being inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Michigan Chapter Hall of Fame – since it was through his efforts that the Michigan Chapter of The Lacrosse Foundation was formed in his basement almost thirty years ago! Tom had a visionary idea that lacrosse could grow to be much more than just a men’s club team in town, and along with Bert Smith and fellow HOF members Mike Campbell and Rich Kimball, the Lacrosse Foundation Michigan Chapter was born in 1983.

Tom grew up in St. Michaels, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He attended the Friends School in Baltimore, and was a member of their lacrosse team that won the Baltimore City Championship in the late 30’s – some very good competition! The Friends School started a Hall of Fame a couple of years ago, and Tom was inducted in their inaugural class.

Tom then moved on to Penn State University, where he was an honorable mention All‐America midfielder in 1943, and played in the 1942 North‐South All‐Star game, which was held at Homewood Field.

After college, Tom entered the Navy, a part of his life he was quite proud of, and managed to play lacrosse with the fabled Mt. Washington team. With his career move to Grand Rapids, he was of the mind that lacrosse was just a memory.

Through the detective work of Mike Campbell, he made contact with Tom through the Lacrosse Foundation, and soon Tom added the title of coach of the Grand Rapids Lacrosse Club to his resume. Truth be told, Tom was also the guardian angel of the team, contributing a $1,000 check each year, with the only stipulation being that it couldn’t be revealed.

The Grand Rapids Lacrosse Club experience got his juices flowing again, and he was interested in giving his grandson the opportunity to play the game, so he decided to get the sport started in the local schools. Mind you, at this time the only teams were our post-grad club and a handful of college club teams in the area. A handful of high school teams existed in the Detroit area, but none anywhere outstate.

Tom started a STX Ball program (lightweight plastic sticks and balls) in the East Grand Rapids middle school gym class, and a field team was organized a couple of years later. Tom also helped the Engels family get a program started in the neighboring Forest Hills school district and for many years, those were the two teams in outstate Michigan.

What started as two high schools now encompasses over 30 programs, with an even larger number of middle school teams. While this reflects the national spread of the sport, Tom Mitchell’s impact on the sport of lacrosse in West Michigan is undeniable. A few seasons ago East Grand Rapids recognized Tom for his contributions to the sport in the town. They had all of the teams – 3 HS, 6 middle school and grade school teams on the field all holding their sticks high. It was a great moment.

In this group are the roots of lacrosse in the West Michigan area. Many of the area coaches are descendants of these two programs. Since Tom worked in the background, Mike and I like to make sure that he gets his much deserved recognition. In 2009 Tom was inducted into the inaugural class of the Michigan High School Lacrosse Coaches Hall of Fame.

Just a few months after the game ceremony, Tom fell at home, was hospitalized, and passed away. We were all grateful that he didn’t suffer an extended hospitalization. In his later years Tom started to develop Alzheimer’s, and Mike and Bert Smith would take him out to lunch and talk lacrosse among other topics. His wife Elaine would always tell us how much he looked forward to these outings and the trips to South Bend to see Notre Dame take on Penn State, and it was our pleasure to be able to take him to see his alma mater.

Mike and Bert spoke at Tom’s funeral about his profound impact on them and on the lacrosse community. At the reception afterward at his granddaughter’s house, she had a picture of Tom in his playing days at Penn State. One of the shortcomings of recognition of a player when his career is over is that people really have a hard time comparing them to the young players of the current day. When I saw the picture of Tom I gained a new appreciation for him, since he looks like the embodiment of all that is good about the game. Congratulations, and here’s to you – Tom Mitchell!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the bio of John Paul.