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UTICA, N.Y. — A month and a half ago, Sid Jamieson was sitting in his living room watching television. Out of the blue, he received a phone call. Numerous people congratulated him on the other line.

They soon revealed that Jamieson was the first Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award recipient. The award was established in remembrance of Jacques, a wooden stickmaker who hailed from the Onondaga Nation. He passed away in June 2023. Jacques was known around the world for not only his stickmaking, but his advocacy for lacrosse’s Indigenous roots. As a result, the award would be given to someone who “spent a lifetime expressing the goodwill and the values of (lacrosse),” Robert Carpenter, the founder of Inside Lacrosse, said.

Jamieson made waves, becoming the first and only First Nations Division I lacrosse coach. A member of the Cayuga people, Jamieson was hired by Bucknell in 1968 and coached the Bison for 37 seasons. Like Jacques, he’s been a strong advocate for preserving native culture.

Though when he first heard the news, Jamieson was tongue-tied. He’d known about the award, but was completely caught off guard.

“If the point of this award was to find someone who exemplified what my father did for lacrosse … Mr. Jamieson is the perfect person for that,” Jacques’ son, Ryder, said.

Jamieson was given the honor at the inaugural Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award Dinner held in Utica Monday. Jacques’ family was in attendance. Current and former SU head coaches Gary Gait, Roy Simmons Jr. and Roy Simmons III, along with Virginia head coach Lars Tiffany, were also present. Those at the dinner were all impacted by Jacques and the influence he had on lacrosse.

“Knowing that Alfie’s hopefully smiling down on this whole event and this whole thing, I don’t think there can be anything better than receiving an award from one of your friends,” Jamieson said.

At Jacques’ funeral two summers ago, Carpenter, Jim Calder — an author and lacrosse historian — and others sat down with each other and reminisced about Jacques with stories. Carpenter had got to know Jacques through his work with Inside Lacrosse, while Calder traveled to different lacrosse conventions with the stickmaker.

The group’s unanimous mission: find a way to preserve Jacques’ legacy.

“This can’t be the end of what (Jacques) did for the game,” Calder said. “(We’ve) got to find a way to channel it and use it.”

Carpenter, Calder, Betty Lyons and several others banded together to come up with the idea of an award. They created an advisory board of nine people, all of whom had profound connections to Jacques.

Lyons, president and executive director of the American Indian Law Alliance, helped allow AILA to host the fundraiser while the Indigenous Values Initiative was the fiscal sponsor. The initial goal was to raise $100,000. Though they fell well short of the mark, the donations still totaled just under $30,000.

Along with the donations, a college scholarship was established in Jacques’ name through Native Vision, a sports and life skills program led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health.

Native Vision was a crucial part of Jacques’ way of growing lacrosse. Before the pandemic, he traveled to New Mexico 10 times alongside Jamieson to teach native kids how to play. Since 2007, Native Vision has had a scholarship to help Indigenous high school seniors attend college.

During Monday’s event, emcee Justin Giles said that this year, the scholarship was named after Jacques and will continue to be going forward. Giles, a member of World Lacrosse’s Diversity and Opportunity commission, introduced speakers throughout the night. The dinner started at around 6 p.m. when Tadodaho Sidney Hill, the Chief of the Onondaga Nation, delivered a traditional opening. Following the remarks, Carpenter played a video he previously made of Jacques.

Carpenter explained his connection with Jacques, noting how much the stickmaker taught him as a non-native but also how he exposed the legendary figure to new experiences, including taking him to his first-ever NCAA Final Four in 2017 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

When Carpenter finished, Tiffany stepped to the mic to introduce Jamieson. Tiffany said he’d heard inklings of a possible dinner, but was fully immersed when Jamieson asked him to be his presenter.

Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Lars Tiffany spoke at the inaugural Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award Dinner. Tiffany presented the award to Sid Jamieson (not pictured). Photographer | Courtesy of Charlie Regusa, Haudenosaunee Nationals

During his time as an assistant at Penn State (2000-04), Tiffany coached against Jamieson. Tiffany also has roots in central New York, growing up on a buffalo farm in Lafayette. His first interaction with Onondaga natives in the area was when his father, Bradford, sold 11 of his bison to them. Tiffany grew up playing lacrosse with kids on the Onondaga reservation before meeting Jacques.

“Alfie’s secret sauce was how he connected us together (with) his laugh, his smile, his humanity,” Tiffany said. “You always felt happier in his presence.”

When Bradford died in 2019, Tiffany’s friend, Joe Solomon, gifted him a 6-foot wooden long pole made by Jacques at the funeral service. Solomon later revealed that Bradford asked Jacques to make it for his son as a lasting gift.

Everyone told Tiffany to hang it up, though Solomon told him it had to be put to use. Now, he keeps it on the sidelines during games at Virginia. It was also used by Haudenosaunee defender Zed Williams at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championships, with Tiffany as the head coach.

The stick serves as a reminder of his roots. Now whenever Tiffany returns to central New York, it puts a smile on his face to see old friends, including Jamieson.

At the podium, Tiffany discussed his relationship with Jamieson. Tiffany spoke about his impact on the Indigenous lacrosse community before introducing him. After Jamieson spoke, he was presented with the Ambassador Award, a carefully hand-carved wooden sculpture of the head of one of Jacques’ sticks.

The sculpture was made by Ryan Sandy, a member of the Cayuga Nation. An ironworker by trade, Sandy spent three to five hours after his shifts carefully crafting it. His weekends became consumed with it as well. Sandy said he worked on the project for two months. Though Sandy never met Jacques, he felt connected with him through his work.

The Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award, made by artist Ryan Sandy. Photographer | Courtesy of Charlie Regusa, Haudenosaunee Nationals

Jamieson used a large portion of his acceptance speech to tell stories of how he sees lacrosse as an avenue to advocate for Indigenous rights. Throughout the speech, he pointed out various well-known attendees in the crowd and thanked them for coming.

One of them was Gait. Arguably the greatest lacrosse player of all time, Gait was introduced to Jacques while playing at Syracuse. In 1990, Gait said he played with one of Jacques’ sticks. It was the last time he played with a wooden stick before plastic took over the stickmaking industry.

“He was like a magnet,” Gait said of Jacques. “When he would have a stick in his hands, or be carving a stick on display, people would just gather around and want to watch and see how he does it.”

Gait’s message was a common theme among the majority of attendees. Jacques brought people from all walks of life together. He resonated with them in some way, whether it’d be through one of his sticks or striking up a simple conversation.

Monday held the same theme of Jacques’ life, as people from different cultures joined together to celebrate him.

The dinner served as a relief for Carpenter and the rest of the board. Carpenter joked none of them had previously set up anything like it, meaning there were plenty of bumps in the road along the way. There are new ideas he wants to bring to the table, like spreading more awareness through social media.

Yet for year one, Carpenter called it a success. Now, he hopes to make it a yearly tradition.

“No one can replicate (Jacques’) efforts,” Carpenter said, “but as a collective, can we all come together once a year and keep his spirit alive?”

Published on September 24, 2024 at 10:46 pm

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22