Tom Heck

--->  Are you looking for the Asheville Lacrosse Club website?  You can find them at their Facebook page HERE.

The following is a history of the Asheville Lacrosse Club in Asheville, North Carolina as written by Tom Heck.

I founded the Asheville Lacrosse Club in 1994 and was club president from 1994 - 2004.  Here's how it all started.

In the fall of 1991 I began working for the YMCA of Western North Carolina and in the spring of 1992 I was visiting with my good friend and local business owner Chuck Campbell and we discussed the possibility of growing lacrosse in Asheville.  We decided the fastest and easiest way to start was to begin with non-contact co-ed summer lacrosse.  Chuck donated the gear and I started the program through the YMCA in the summer of 1992. 

We played 7 on 7 every Wednesday evening during the summer and turn-out was light that first year.  By year two (summer 1993) we had 20 to 40 people showing up on Wednesdays at the YMCA Community Services Branch on Beaverdam Road to play.  "Out-n-About", a free weekly newspaper in Asheville put the program on the front page of one issue.  Click on the link below to read the article.

Download 1993 out-n-about article

Some of the founding members of the men's club first started playing in this summer non-contact league including Richard Sims and Duncan Sharits.

In the fall of 1993 a group of guys who had been playing non-contact lacrosse met to discuss the formation of a men's (full contact) club program.  About half of the group had experience playing but few of us had gear.  In the spring of 1994 we ordered our personal gear and also pooled our money to buy "team gear" for those who would be new to the sport and didn't want to invest in personal gear just yet.

The first practice for the Asheville Men's Post-collegiate Lacrosse Club (aka Asheville Lacrosse) was held in the spring of 1994.

The Asheville Citizen-Times ran an article in Feb. 1994 to help us spread the word about the new program.  Click on the link below to read the article.

Download AVL lax in Citizen Times Feb 1994

Through my position at the YMCA, I was able to promote youth (non-contact) lacrosse.  I taught YMCA summer camp staff how to play the game and they in turn shared it with the summer campers at four sites around Asheville.

Early on we used a phone tree to get the word out to club members (the internet didn't exist).  Our first phone tree is below.

Download Phone tree March 1994

more phone trees / rosters coming...

Our first uniform was old football jerseys from Asheville Middle School which Tim Mimkin was able to provide.

GOALIES

Here's the list of goalies (in order of appearance) that have helped lead the team:

1. Mike Tavener
2. Tony Ferrante
3. Pete Wallace, Sr.
4. Andrew Nagle
5. Andrew Patrick
6. ?

GAMES

Early on we played both men's clubs (Atlanta, Charleston, Augusta, Charlotte, Knoxville) and college clubs (ASU, UNC-Charlotte, UT-Knoxville, UGA).

OUR SUMMER TOURNAMENT

We held our first summer tournament in 1995.  Three teams played (Asheville, Augusta, and Knoxville) at the YMCA on Beaverdam Road.  The tournament was held during the Asheville Bele Chere Festival, so we called our event the "Bele Chere Lacrosse Tournament".

We played on one field with three teams for several years and then expanded to a two field, six team tournament in 1999 or 2000.  We first played on fields near TC Roberson and then moved the tournament to Fletcher Park (still 6 teams).

Eventually the tournament was moved to the artificial turf fields in East Asheville and the number of teams playing increased to 8 and it has grown from there.  The tournament is now called the "Blue Ridge Classic."

YOUTH LACROSSE IN WNC

coming soon...

IN THE NEWS

Article in the Asheville Citizen-Times from summer 2000 (click on the link below)

Download August 2000 Citizen Times article

SOMETHING TO ADD / SHARE

If you have some history to add please use the comment field below.  Send photos and articles about the team to me ([email protected]) and I'll do my best to post them here.

If you've found your way to this page out of a desire to play on the Asheville Lacrosse team then visit www.AshevilleLacrosse.net to get all the new club contact info. 

more coming soon