Legends of lacrosse share stories in video series
Davis, Grant Sr. and Wasson among those interviewed about their experiences and highlights in the game
Peterborough natives Johnny Davis, John Grant Sr. and Jimmy Wasson are among the lacrosse legends featured in a video series created by the Canadian Lacrosse Foundation.
Lacrosse Talks kicked off its second season last Thursday with the release of its first 2020 episode on Russ Sheppard.
Episode two featuring Peterborough’s Don Barrie, a longtime Examiner columnist and Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame member, will be posted this Thursday.
Episodes featuring Davis and a cofeature on Grant and Wasson will be posted in coming weeks.
There were 20 episodes in 2019 including Peterborough’s Bobby Allan and Paul Parnell. All new and past episodes are available on YouTube.
Each episode features Canadian Lacrosse Foundation director Jim Calder interviewing guests in a conversational format about their experiences and highlights in lacrosse.
Barrie said his interview focuses primarily on his historical writings about the sport including his 2004 book “Lacrosse: The Peterborough Way,” later updated in ’09, which chronicles the history of the game in Peterborough.
He also discusses his two lacrosse novels, “Moon and Me” and “Stickman,” which feature real life anecdotes he accumulated in his historical research that he weaved into fictional stories.
The interviews with Peterborough athletes were conducted at the Peterborough and District Sports Hall of Fame last year, Barrie said.
Most of the episodes feature one guest, but Grant and Wasson, who played together from minor to junior, senior and pro lacrosse were interviewed together.
“They had John and Jimmy together, which was unique because they did all the rest of us individually,” Barrie said.
“They played off each other with their memories of minor lacrosse in Peterborough and how they got going. They played together on that potent junior team, which won Minto Cups, and their stories of winning the Minto out west,” he added. “Then, of course, both of them played pro with Philadelphia and they went on about their days playing in Philadelphia and how they were part of selling the game down there and how the crowds took to it. Their first game was the day the Flyers won the Stanley Cup for the first time so they sort of built off of that. Those two are pretty humorous and it was just like they were in a bar talking back and forth.”
Barrie was not present when Davis was interviewed.
Lacrosse Talks features “interviews of some of Canada’s most dynamic lacrosse builders, coaches and players. The purpose of the project is to capture the personal stories of those who have shaped the game over the last 80 years,” states a Canadian Lacrosse Foundation press release.
Sheppard was introduced to lacrosse in Saskatchewan through master coach Al Luciuk. He played some senior men’s lacrosse and began coaching youth in 1995. He moved to Nunavut as a teacher in ’98 and began the Kugluktuk Grizzlies lacrosse program in ’99.
Soon after, he formed Nunavut Lacrosse. The journey of his program and the impact the game had on the disenfranchised youth of the region has been captured in the recent release of the full-length motion picture “The Grizzlies.”
This Lacrosse Talk will tell the story behind the initiative and the movie.
Sheppard’s involvement in lacrosse has only grown since those days. He contributed as a coach and administrator in Alberta and British Columbia and he sits on the Canadian Lacrosse Association board. He’s written manuals on box and field lacrosse and coached more than 30 athletes who have gone on to play university lacrosse in Canada and the United States.
All the videos can be accessed at youtube.com/channel/ UCCBvOxZi_Bu2toDatSBvvZA.
The interviews with the lacrosse greats are also available in podcast format at spreaker.com/show/lacrosse-legends.
The Podcast show and all episodes will also be made available on iTunes, Google Play, iHeartRadio and Spotify as soon as they are released.