History

Lacrosse was an indigenous stickball game being played by Native Americans when European settlers arrived in North America. Early lacrosse accounts, from French Jesuit missionaries in Huron country in the 1630’s and English explorers in the Great Lakes in the mid 1800’s, are scant and often conflicting. These accounts focus mainly on team size, equipment used, the duration of games, and the length of playing fields, but seldom mention stick handling, game strategy, or rules for play.

Lacrosse was given its name by early French settlers, using the generic term for any game played with a curved stick (Crosse) and a ball. There is no evidence of non-Native Americans taking up the game until the mid-nineteenth century, when English-speaking Montrealers attempted to “civilize” the sport by implementing a new set of rules and organizing into amateur clubs. Once the game grew in popularity in Canada, it began to spread throughout North America, and some Iroquois teams even traveled as far as Europe for exhibition matches.

Apart from its recreational function, lacrosse traditionally played a more serious role in Native American culture. Its origins are rooted in legend, and the game continues to be used for curative purposes and surrounded with ceremony. In the past, lacrosse also served to vent aggression, and territorial disputes between tribes were sometimes settled with a game.

Meanwhile, the spread of non-native lacrosse from the Montreal area eventually led to its position today as the fastest growing sport worldwide, now controlled by official regulations and played with manufactured equipment.

1636	Jesuit Missionary, Jean de Brebeuf, is the first to document the game of lacrosse.
1834	Caughnawaga Indians demonstrate the sport to Montreal. The game is reported by a newspaper and, for the first time, white men are interested in lacrosse.
1876	Queen Victoria watches and “endorses” a lacrosse game in Windsor, England.
1877	New York University is the first college in the United States to establish a lacrosse team.
1890	The first women’s lacrosse game is played at St. Leonard’s School in St. Andrew’s Scotland.
1904	Lacrosse is first played as an exhibition sport in the Olympics in Amsterdam.
1926	Rosabelle Sinclair reestablishes women’s lacrosse in the U.S. when she starts a team at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore.
1931	The U.S. Women’s Lacrosse Association (USWLA) is formed as the rule-making body for women’s lacrosse.
1933	The USWLA holds its first national tournament in Greenwich, Connecticut.
1959	The Lacrosse Foundation is incorporated as the sport’s national development center and archive.
1967	Coach Willis Bilderback of Navy wins his eighth intercollegiate title.
1971	Men’s college lacrosse allies with the NCAA.
1972	The International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Association (IFWLA) is founded.
1982	First NCAA women’s championship is played at Trenton State University between the University of Massachusetts and Trenton State University.
1986	The Japan Lacrosse Association is founded.
1990	Chico State starts a Women’s Lacrosse Club. It is organized by Bernadette Kiraly and their Motto is “Scrappy but Good”.
1997	The United States defeats Australia (3-2), winning the IFWLA World Cup title in Edogawa, Japan.
1998	US Lacrosse is founded and incorporated as the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse.
2001	The University of Maryland finishes an undefeated season (23-0) by winning its seventh consecutive NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
2002	It is estimated that organized lacrosse is played by nearly 300,000 people in the United States and 90,000 people (in more than 20 countries, on five continents) worldwide.
2006	The Chico State Women’s Program is ranked tenth in the Nation in the Women’s Division Intercollegiate Association (WDIA) and is coached by Nathan Hendel.
2010	To Be Continued!