Duffy drafted by Machine

May 5, 2006 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Chicago Machine News Release


Oak Park native Tim Duffy has been drafted by Chicago's new Major League Lacrosse team--the Chicago Machine--for its 2006 inaugural season.

Duffy, who played midfield for Ohio State University's Division I Men's Lacrosse team and was an All-State and All-American Honorable Mention player at Oak Park and River Forest High School, reports to training camp determined to earn a Machine jersey and fulfill a dream.

More than thirty lacrosse stand-outs from across the country will gather for three weekends to try out for Machine Head Coach Kevin Finneran and 23 spots on Chicago's professional lacrosse team. The Machine will play its first home game June 3 at the stadium at Illinois Benedictine University in Lisle.

Duffy, who is deceptively fast and remarkably strong at 6 ft, 220 lbs., is no stranger to obstacles. He has faced potentially career-ending injuries and not only overcome them, but fiercely exceeded his prior achievements. When a concussion forced him to miss 7 of 15 games during his senior year at OPRF, he still earned All-State and All-American honors. While at Ohio State, Duffy competed in two NCAA tournaments before a leg fracture ended his college lacrosse career. He graduated early, in December 2005, and returned home to work for a Chicago law firm by day, and as assistant coach of the Fenwick High School varsity lacrosse team in the evenings.

Duffy eagerly anticipated the Machine's inaugural season as a fan, but when he learned he could enter the pro lacrosse draft as a discovery player, he immediately entered and was snapped up by the Machine. He is thrilled to be trying out for his hometown team, in top shape and pumped to play.

"I always had this quality of somehow finding a way," said Duffy, 22. "Coming out of Illinois and playing Division I lacrosse is pretty unheard of. Then I broke my leg and missed playing my senior year, and now I have the opportunity to play professional. It's pretty funny how things work out. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Duffy, who held his own as the second-youngest in a family of six athletically gifted kids, competed in hockey, soccer, football and baseball while growing up in Oak Park. He was drawn to lacrosse by the action and the intellectual challenge of the game. As a freshman at OPRF, he dropped soccer and football to focus on lacrosse.

"The appeal of lacrosse is the wide diversity of type of players," Duffy explained. "It's not like in basketball, where if you're tall you'll be a dominant player. Everyone has their own playing style you can admire. Some are small and fast and agile, and others are big and fast. The contact drew me in as well. Any sport where I can knock people around is a plus for me."

Duffy, who plans to attend law school in the fall, took a week off work to train for training camp. He boasts an enviable combination of speed and strength--he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds at Ohio State and holds the university's records for incline bench press, 380 lbs., and flat bench press, 420 lbs. He says he will be in peak condition when he reports to Machine training camp May 6-7 at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview and May 13-14, at Wheaton College in Wheaton.

Duffy's family--parents John and Pat, both school teachers, and his three sisters and two brothers, will be cheering him on.

"They are ecstatic for me," Duffy said. "They are surprised, but not surprised, because things always seem to work out."



Major League Lacrosse Stories from May 5, 2006


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