Gino Pazzaglini: Brown was lacrosse pioneer

Regarding the May 8 Sports article “Jones has chance to be role model for blacks in lacrosse”: The wonderful piece on talented Duke lacrosse player Myles Jones and the history of African-Americans in this predominantly “white” game was well done and, I hope, an inspiration to other aspiring black athletes thinking about this great sport. But nowhere in the article did I see any mention of James N. Brown.

Although many of us old-timers got to see Jim Brown play NFL Hall of Fame worthy football for the Cleveland Browns, few are aware that he was arguably one of the best collegiate lacrosse players of all time at Syracuse 1954-57, earning his way into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

In the 1957 national collegiate all-star game, playing against the best players, Brown scored five goals in one half. And discrimination both spoken and unspoken existed while collegiate Brown conducted himself admirably.

Your story of Jones’ achievements and other recent black lacrosse players seem to follow a path Jim Brown pioneered 60 years ago. Although best known for football, Brown is quoted as having said, “I’d rather play lacrosse six days a week and football on the seventh.” His lacrosse career deserves recognition.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Gino Pazzaglini: Brown was lacrosse pioneer."