Lacrosse, oh my, what a
game!
Born and raised in the heart of Baltimore City, I was introduced to the game of
lacrosse at a very early age. Without the benefit of fields or even lawns to
play on, I developed my skills in the alleys and streets of the inner city. Two
neighbors, Joe Sollers and Ken Martin, outstanding lacrosse players at Johns
Hopkins University and RPI, respectively, gave my brother and me our first
sticks when we were barely old enough to walk. But, as we soon discovered,
lacrosse was the game. Stickball, football, and basketball, each played a
role in our athletic and character development, but I seem to recall not a day
going by without at least a half hour of pounding the wall, or playing catch, or
executing dodges between the curbs that served as our sidelines. A lot of ankles
were turned, elbows scraped, balls lost and windows broken, but the competitive
fire was clearly sparked on those unforgiving pavements. What fun we had.
Looking back, it’s amazing the number of All-State, All-Star and All-America
lacrosse players that came from those rather humble beginnings.
Fortunate to be a scholarship recipient at both Boys’ Latin School and Johns
Hopkins University, I was able to play the game at the highest level throughout
my years in school. As I think about it, the Webster family and lacrosse are
almost synonymous. My brother Mick was a 3-time, first-team All-America at
Hopkins. All four of our children played the game at various stages of their
lives, with Michael (Hopkins, ‘87) now coaching at The Pingry School in New
Jersey, and David (Dickinson College, ’88) currently the head men’s lacrosse
coach at his alma mater in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Our daughter Beth played at
Gettysburg College, while our other son Rich enjoyed the game before focusing on
boxing and sailing at Navy. Son-in-law Shane Twomey distinguished himself most recently
as a member of the New Jersey Pride. Nephews Jim (University of Virginia), John
(University of North Carolina), and Ned (University of Notre Dame) made
significant contributions to their respective programs as well. My wife Betty
and I will often reminisce about our family’s involvement with the game.
One of only a few solo captains in the history of Hopkins lacrosse, I take
enormous satisfaction in being a part of that University’s proud lacrosse
tradition. Recipient of seven high school coach-of-the-year awards, coach of
several league and regional championship teams, coach of four high
school lacrosse teams that were widely recognized as the best of the best, and,
most recently, the offensive coordinator at Navy, I obviously was fortunate to
have outstanding young men and talented athletes on my side of the scorer’s
table. Great players do tend to make their coach look good.
Over the years, it has been my distinct pleasure to coach high school lacrosse
in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with a number of my kids earning
All-State recognition in high school and All-America honors in college. In my
various administrative roles over the years, most recently as the Director of
College Counseling at Boys’ Latin School, I took great delight in helping
students continue their lacrosse careers at such schools as Hopkins, Navy,
Dickinson, Maryland, Notre Dame, Gettysburg, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Hobart,
Syracuse, Denison, Army, Kenyon, Virginia, North Carolina, Penn State, Loyola,
Washington, Franklin & Marshall, McDaniel, Delaware, Ohio Wesleyan, UMBC, St.
Mary’s College of Maryland, Randolph Macon, Hampden-Sydney, Ohio State, Cornell,
Trinity, Denver, Harvard, Limestone, Middlebury, Duke, Hofstra, Lehigh, Catawba,
Bucknell, Washington and Lee, Roanoke, Towson, Vermont, Rutgers, Villanova,
Virginia Wesleyan, Massachusetts, Brown and Western New England.
Grateful for every opportunity to help deserving students on their life’s
journey, regardless of their particular interests and talents, one of my primary
goals now is to help promising young men and women who aspire to play the
game at the college or university level. With the benefit of my college
counseling experience and the passion that I have for lacrosse, and with the
advantage of the relationships that I have formed over the years with college
admission officers and coaches around the country, College Counseling Plus
is ready, willing and able to facilitate the highly competitive, always
unpredictable, frequently stressful college admission process for student
athletes who hope to continue their playing career in college. Lacrosse, clearly
the best game on two feet!
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