Greater Rochester Chapter to Welcome Four into Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Published on October 18, 2013 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release
The Greater Rochester Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse will welcome four new members into its Hall of Fame with the induction of Bill Coons, Hank Janczyk, MJ Vrooman and David Wilbur. The 20th Annual U.S. Lacrosse Greater Rochester Chapter Hall of Fame Dinner will take place on Friday, November 1st at the Burgundy Basin Inn at 1361 Marsh Road in Pittsford.
The cost is $45 per person. The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with dinner scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and introductions beginning promptly at 8:00 p.m. For further information or questions, please contact Chapter President Nathan Snyder at uslax.gr@gmail.com.
Here are bios as provided by the foundation on each of the inductees:
Bill Coons first picked up a lacrosse stick in 1981 as an eighth grader and the rest, they say, is history. Two years later, he was beginning his first of three seasons as a starter at Rush-Henrietta Roth High School. Coons excelled at lacrosse and earned All-County honors all three seasons, and was the team's leading scorer as a junior and senior. His senior season, he was also named the team captain and achieved high school All-American status, which led to an invitation to play in the high school All-American North/South game.
He also was a member of the first Western NY men's lacrosse team in the Empire State Games, and led the team in scoring. The future Henrietta Youth Hall of Famer took his game to the collegiate level in 1986, joining the newly formed Nazareth College men's lacrosse team. Coons made an immediate impact, starting for all four years and leading the team in scoring each year. He was named Nazareth's offensive MVP three times, which included his freshman season in 1986.
His name dominates the Nazareth College lacrosse record book, graduating as the school's all-time leading scorer with 312 points (138 goals and 174 assists) and a two-time All-American. He set school records for most career assists 174, most assists in one season (71), most points in one season (112) and most points in one game (13). The two-time captain led the nation in scoring in all divisions as a senior, averaging eight points per game. He twice powered the Golden Flyers to NCAA Division III playoff appearances (1988 and 1989). Coons was inducted into the Nazareth Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. To this day, the former college assistant coach still remains close to the game, coaching his son Cullen's teams.
Hank Janczyk enters the Rochester Chapter Hall of Fame as one of the most successful lacrosse coaches in NCAA history. Entering his 27th season as the head coach of Gettysburg College, he has owns a career record of 332-98. Janczyk ranks second in NCAA history in men's lacrosse coaching victories with a 377-122 mark, and is only the fifth NCAA men's lacrosse coach to reach the 300-win plateau, having previously coached at Salisbury and Colgate universities.
His Gettysburg teams have made the NCAA Playoffs 22 times and have advanced to the Division III Championship three times (2001, 2002, and 2009). Never enduring a losing season, he has captured 11 Centennial Conference Championships. In 2001, he was awarded the Babe Kraus Award as the Division III Coach of the Year, an honor he first won in 1984 at Salisbury. That season, his team won 14 straight games en route to a then school-record 16 wins and a berth in the school's first lacrosse title game.
In 2008, Janczyk won the USILA Howdy Myers Man of the Year Award, presented to an individual who has contributed to the game of lacrosse in a capacity over and above the normal efforts and has shown unselfish and untiring devotion to the game.
Prior to compiling his Hall of Fame coaching credentials, Janczyk was a standout defenseman at Hobart College. He played on a pair of NCAA Division III runners-up and captained Hobart's 1976 national championship squad. He was inducted into the 2010 class of the Hobart Hall of Fame.
MJ Vrooman first played lacrosse in 1973 when The College at Brockport started their women's lacrosse program. Now 40 years later, she still has a passion for the game and remains connected to the sport.
Vrooman currently serves as an umpire and travels the country, going from New York and Pennsylvania to Florida, Arizona and Colorado. She is also a member of the Rochester Board of Women's Lacrosse Officials, where she has always been involved in a leadership role. Vrooman was the Assigner for 10 years and currently assists as a Sub-Assigner. MJ presently serves as the Rules Interpreter, Training Coordinator & Clinician.
"Over my tenure as a player and my 16 years as a lacrosse umpire, I have witnessed the transition from USWLA to US Lacrosse as well as the growth of the game in popularity and the drastic rule changes since the mid-seventies," she said. "This game has certainly evolved and will continue to do so as the players get stronger and faster, the equipment becomes more advanced and the coaches get more creative. I'm so excited to be a part of it all."
A product of McGraw High School and The College at Brockport, she taught physical education in the Rochester City School District from 1974-2007. Vrooman added field hockey umpire to her résumé a year later in 1975, which is a position she still currently holds. In 1997, she added lacrosse umpire.
Vrooman played extensively for club teams from 1979 to 1983, and was a member of the South 1 team that won the 1983 National Tournament at Hofstra University. Her list of accomplishments include induction into The College at Brockport Golden Eagle Athletic Hall of Fame (1983) and the RCSD Don Lander Memorial Award (as physical education teacher) (1992-93). In 2004, she received the Central Western Zone N.Y.S.A.H.P.E.R.D. Secondary Teacher of the Year Award.
David Wilbur could very well hold the title, the Doctor of Lacrosse, for his efforts on and off the field. A pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Wilbur will return to his lacrosse roots to receive induction into The Greater Rochester Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
The Rush native began his lacrosse career as a founding member of two lacrosse programs in Western NY. As a player, he played on the inaugural Rush-Henrietta High School team, where he starred on defense, attack and in goal (1969-71). After a successful high school career, he advanced to Johns Hopkins University, where he played in goal from 1971-75.
Wilbur also competed as a club lacrosse player from 1971 to 1982. From 1971-74, he played goalie for the Rochester Lacrosse Club and was named the team's most improved player in 1972. He spent two seasons (1975-76) in the Montgomery County, Md. Lacrosse League and six seasons (1977-82) with the Penfield Lacrosse Club.
In 1992, Wilbur switched from player to founder and organizer with the creation of the Victor Lacrosse Boosters Organization, which held lacrosse clinics from 1992-93. It was 1993 that he received approval for the Victor School Program to begin a lacrosse program. Lacrosse was a family affair as his wife, Margaret, served as the co-director of Victor Youth Lacrosse (1993-2002) and the Victor Lacrosse Booster Club. He referred to her as the "brains" behind the organization.
For the next nine years, David Wilbur built the Victor program, working behind the scenes and on the ground. He served as an assistant coach for the modified team (1994-95) and Junior Varsity team (1996-97), before making the move to Varsity in 1998. During his five-year tenure with the Varsity team, Victor was Section 5 runner-up twice (2000-01) and sectional champs in 2002. In 2000, he was named the Finger Lakes Lacrosse Conference Man of the Year. One of his greatest accomplishments was coaching his sons Scott and Jeff, who both graduated from Victor High School en route to four-year standout careers at Williams College.
The Greater Rochester Chapter Hall of Fame has inducted individuals based on outstanding lacrosse achievement and/or contribution since 1992. The mission of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame is to honor men and women, past and present, who by their deeds as players, coaches, officials and/or contributors, and by the example of their lives, personify the great contribution of the sport of lacrosse to our way of life.
US Lacrosse is the national governing body for lacrosse in the United States. The National Hall of Fame is housed in the Lacrosse Museum in Baltimore, Md.
National Lacrosse League Stories from October 18, 2013
- Greater Rochester Chapter to Welcome Four into Lacrosse Hall of Fame - Rochester Knighthawks
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