Mineola Alumni Return for Annual Lacrosse Game

This isn’t your typical alumni reunion. Droves of Mineola alumni descent upon each year, not to reminisce about school days gone by, but to actually retake the field in an annual lacrosse game that means as much to these men as it did when they played on the same field as high schoolers.

Last Saturday afternoon was the 30th time the annual alumni lacrosse game was held, with nearly 70 players and coaches across the classes of 1951 to 2009 participating.

The longest running alumni game on Long Island, the event started in 1981 and grew into a yearly event where former players and coaches reconvene for an exhibition lacrosse matchup over Father’s Day weekend. Teams are split between even and odd graduate years. Participants must have graduated from Mineola at least one year prior before taking place in the alumni game. Once eligible, however, getting players and coaches to come out has never been a problem.

“Guys fly in from all over the country,” event organizer and Class of 1984 member Mike Vella said. “Everyone knows that 11 a.m. on Father’s Day weekend at Hampton Street Stadium in Mineola. It’s a great thing.”

While most players and coaches remember the fierce competition of their playing days, the alumni match is more about camaraderie.

“It’s a great feeling and it takes me back to the old days,” former Mineola coach Jim Howell said. “Seeing a lot of the kids that I coached that are adults now in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s; it’s great coming back to a school that I love and never wanted to graduate from.”

Class of 1971 member John McCarthy traveled from Washington, D.C. to be with the group that has showed tremendous support in his own personal life.

“There’s a bond that goes on here that’s hard to describe,” McCarthy, who survived cancer in 2007, said. “The outpouring that I got from these guys was amazing. Phone calls, letters on a weekly basis for almost a year. I was always getting phone calls from these guys to find out how I’m doing. It meant so much and it’s hard to describe.”

McCarthy sported an alumni t-shirt with signatures from former players and coaches that wished him well during his bout against cancer.

“It’s a very special group,” he said. “As long as I can put one foot in front of the other, I’ll be back next year and the year after that.”

George Williamson, Mineola graduate of 1972, has attended every alumni game since its inception.

“I make sure I’m here every year,” Williamson said. “I love it. My kids graduated from the high school as I did. A lot of these guys grew up together and our kids grew up playing with each other. Hopefully, it’ll last another 30 years.

After the final whistle had blown and group photos had been taken, a young boy running around with a lacrosse stick had asked his father, “Daddy, who won the game?”

“Mineola won,” he replied.