Grant on cusp of storybook ending
John Grant Jr. retired from the Denver Outlaws and Major League Lacrosse in 2017 with nothing left to prove as the league’s all- time leader in goals scored and winner of five team championships.
His desire to play, though, never faded. It’s why Grant — at age 44 and following several significant injuries — went against conventional wisdom and stepped down as the Outlaws’ offensive coordinator after two years to suit up again this season.
“It felt great to tell everyone I was back and playing,” Grant said. “But in the back of my mind I’m thinking, ‘ I don’t think I can run. My knees are gone. I don’t think I can do it.’ But I just kept pushing.”
MLL Championship weekend begins Friday night at DU’s Peter Barton Stadium with the Outlaws facing the Boston Cannons at 8 p. m. in the semifinals. Grant enters as Denver’s odds- defying veteran player/ coach who splits time between attacking the opposing net ( 21 goals in 14 games this season) and helping orchestrate the Outlaws attack while on sideline.
“Anyone I’ve met, when they’ve won a championship, they instantly start thinking about how to win the next one,” Grant said. “That’s always been me.”
Yet this title chase means a bit more.
Grant’s decision to come out of retirement, in part, was upon the suggestion of his daughter Gabby, who didn’t want to watch him coach anymore from the sidelines: “I really want daddy to play,” she said.
So Grant included his wife, Raygen, and daughter like never before in his lacrosse travels this season, even having them join him at the MLL All- Star game in Maryland.
“It’s a dream come true to be fully immersed in the game, but because I’ve involved my family every step of the way this summer, it’s not like I’m leaving them out,” Grant said. “Everything I’ve wanted my career to be, I was able to actually do it this year.”
Grant was accustomed to a role as his team’s star attacker throughout a storied 14- year MLL career and now embraces situational usage with Denver’s young talent running the show. He admits the thought of retirement, for real this time, is “in the back of my mind.” But only if everything comes together just right.
An Outlaws victory Friday pins them against either the Atlanta Blaze or the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the championship game Sunday at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. An opportunity for Grant Jr. to finish his famed career with a storybook ending.
“If fate has it that we can pull this off, and I can let my little 9year- old run onto the field and kiss that trophy,” he said, “that’s something that will be one of the best moments of my life.”