Vitarelli inducted into Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame
Lakers president Ted Higgins given Golden Stick for service to box lacrosse
Peterborough Lakers executive board member Mark Vitarelli was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Lakers owner and president Ted Higgins received the Ontario Lacrosse Golden Stick Honour from the Ontario Lacrosse Association on Saturday in Niagara Falls.
Vitarelli was inducted as a builder for his efforts as a coach and administrator following his playing career. He was nominated by Major Series Lacrosse communications director Rad Joseph.
“Mark played the game with skill and grit,” Joseph said in his speech introducing Vitarelli, noting the family has three generations of lacrosse players in Peterborough.
“There are countless players who had to call it a career because of injury. And they just walked awayed from the game. Why did Mark Vitarelli stay involved? A passion and love for lacrosse.”
Vitarelli’s playing career in Peterborough was ended by a knee injury in 1976 and he began coaching the following year as the assistant coach of the Peterborough Junior A Gray-Munros.
Two years later, he assumed the head coach responsibilities and led the team to three consecutive Minto Cup Canadian National Championships in 1981, 1982 and 1983. For his efforts, Vitarelli was recognized as
Coach of the Year in both 1982 and 1983.
The following season, he graduated to coaching the Peterborough Senior A Lakers and found even more success winning his first Mann Cup Canadian National Championship title in 1984.
He returned to the Junior A team in 1989 to capture another Minto Cup while simultaneously coaching a novice-aged team in the Ontario Lacrosse Association to a provincial championship win. By 1992, he was coaching four minor lacrosse teams (two in tyke and two in novice); a feat he managed to maintain until the 1995 season.
By 1999, Vitarelli had returned to the Senior Lakers organization where he was recognized as the MSL Coach of the Year.
Since that time, he’s served as part of the coaching staff of the Guelph Power of the Canadian National Lacrosse League, as well as both the Syracuse Smash (2000) and the Ottawa Rebels (2001) of the National Lacrosse League. In 2015, he returned to the game as an executive member of the Senior Lakers who captured the Mann Cup in 2017.
Higgins received the Ontario Lacrosse Golden Stick Honour at the Ontario Lacrosse Association Annual General Meeting Awards Luncheon in recognition of 50 years of volunteer service to the game of lacrosse.
Higgins has been involved with lacrosse for more than 50 years in almost every role possible. He has been a water boy, stick boy, player, team bus driver, team manager, team coach, team executive member, league executive member and team owner.
He started as a player of bantam, midget and juvenile teams. The highlight of his career as a player came in 1961 when he played for the Minto Cup champion Hastings Legionnaires. The team was also the Eastern Canada finalist in 1962. He went on to play two years of senior lacrosse with the Brooklin Redmen.
In 1964, Higgins, in the role of general manager, reactivated the Peterborough senior team. This led to him being on the executive of the 1966 Mann Cup champion Peterborough Petes.
He was an executive member of the 1971 Peterborough PCOs who were the Eastern Canada Junior A champions. This was followed by four consecutive Minto Cup championships from 1972 to 1975 (this legendary team was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2010).
He helped guide the Peterborough Red Oaks to the Mann Cup in 1978 and the Eastern Canadian Championship in 1979.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Higgins was responsible for senior lacrosse surviving in Peterborough. Since that time, Ted played a pivotal role as the Peterborough team has won the Mann Cup in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
Joining Vitarelli in the hall’s Class of 2018 were John Reginald (Jack) Ashbee (Fergus/Brampton), Joe Teiorakwate Curotte (Kahnawake), Eric Perroni (Whitby) and Robert Vesey (Brooklin).