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Phillip Arnold, an Associate Professor of the Department of Religion at Syracuse University, said lacrosse helped broker peace between the five warring nations at Onondaga Lake 1,000 years ago. When Arnold and Randy Hall planned the first Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival in 2013, they decided to play on the lake to commemorate the deep tradition of the sport in the area.

The inaugural Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Festival started as a single exhibition game with a couple of vendors along the sidelines. Now, seven teams compete in a round-robin tournament on a field lined with people from all over the Northeast.

Arnold organized the event with his wife, Sandy Bigtree, and Hall. After Hall passed away unexpectedly in 2019, the tournament was renamed to the Randy Hall Masters Wood Stick Lacrosse Tournament in his memory.

For over a decade, the tournament has celebrated the rich history of lacrosse within indigenous Haudenosaunee tribes. It combines elements of box and regular field lacrosse with some players using wooden sticks. While the games were played, surrounding vendors sold Onondagan food, historic lacrosse books and wooden sticks to help spread and inform spectators on Haudenosaunee culture.

Travis Gabriel carves a wooden stick at the Randy Hall Masters Wooden Stick Lacrosse Tournament. Gabriel has been attending the tournament since 2019. Zak Wolf | Assistant Sports Editor

Heath Hill originally attended the annual tournament to perform dances for the crowd. After Hall’s passing, Hill signed up to be a vendor and sell clothes. Instead, Arnold and Bigtree asked him to serve as the emcee of the event. Hill agreed and has been doing it ever since.

Hill remembered playing under Hall, who used to coach the Onondaga Athletics Club, a youth organization with box lacrosse and basketball teams. Hill said Hall always tried to show younger kids that there was more life outside of the reservation.

“I remembered him saying that even if you don’t want to play that much, do something,” Hill said. “Don’t just sit around, he encouraged us, and it wasn’t like he put you down or anything.”

As an emcee, one of Hill’s responsibilities is to encourage the crowd to visit different vendors. Jim Calder, an author and lacrosse historian, sells books from his. A native of Ontario, Canada, Calder was a former All-American at Hobart and World Champion with Canada in 1978. Having always wanted to write about lacrosse, he published his first book in 2012.

Over time, Calder’s seen the growth of lacrosse skyrocket. When he played at the World Championships five decades ago, four countries participated. Now, 90 compete. Even with the sport’s rise, Calder expressed the importance of remembering the game’s roots.

“If the game moves forward without knowing where it came from, it will have lost something,” Calder said. “That’s what makes us different from any other game in the world. It’s that spiritual creator’s game that makes it different.”

Bert Smith, a stained glass designer from Michigan, owns a business called Spirit in the Sticks. Smith first found out about the event through legendary wooden stick maker Alfie Jaques. Jaques, known all throughout the world as an ambassador for lacrosse, attended each Wooden Stick Festival. In June, Jacques passed away but his legacy lives on.

Bert Smith poses in front of his pop up stand for his company Spirit in the Sticks. A large part of the Randy Hall Masters Wooden Stick Lacrosse Tournament are the vendors surrounding the field. Zak Wolf | Assistant Sports Editor

“Alf was just such a great guy,” Smith said. “He made everyone who met him feel like they were his best friend because he was open, caring and honest.”

At the tournament, videos remembering Jacques were shown on a TV under the main tent. Jacques was an essential part of the box lacrosse scene in the Haudenosaunee as he made most of the players’ sticks.

“They’re carrying that stick, that’s a medicine for them,” Heath said. “They’re telling them that I’m still here, I’m playing, honoring you and playing with your stick.”

Travis Gabriel was originally set to compete at the Wooden Stick Festival but opted to become a vendor instead. Smith said Gabriel is among the “next generation of stick makers,” following Jacques.

In 2009, Gabriel connected with Jacques through their shared interest in stickmaking. The two kept in touch afterward but barely talked about the trade. Gabriel said he didn’t want to bother Jacques for crafting secrets.

Gabriel compared the festival to “visiting family,” emphasizing the importance of the tournament and the uniting nature of lacrosse to the Haudenosaunee.

“There’s something special that happens when you gear up, and you start playing in a game like this on natural ground,” Gabriel said. “There’s a sense of energy that goes on.”

Published on September 18, 2023 at 11:43 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22