Ray Grelecki was born in 1920, and graduated from University of Maryland in 1949. This was after he served in the military in the OSS. Ray was the CO of the Operations Group of the OSS Mercy Team that worked in Hanoi. He was the first American to parachute into Hanoi after the Japanese surrender (~1945), and while there his group provided humanitarian aid to Allied POW's and civilians.
After the war, Mr. Grelecki became a businessman, with ten import-export offices in the Far East and was a charter member of the CIA. His lacrosse career is equally as stellar. During the depression, in jr..high school, Ray learned to play lacrosse with a repaired stick from a brother. He went to Baltimore City College High School and then received an academic and athletic scholarship to the University of Maryland. Ray was an All-American and National High Scorer.
He moved to California in 1950 and didn’t see a single lacrosse stick. Ray contacted his friend ‘Bacharach’ who sent him 100 sticks free of charge. He went around to the High Schools without much interest – ‘don’t rock the boat’, ‘we don’t need another sport’ attitude. Ray knew Dick Nolan from 49ers who invited him to put on a demonstration at halftime at Kezar Stadium. This event, which included Playboy bunnies with lacrosse sticks throwing a ball around, was televised by CBS - the first time the Western US got to have a good look at lacrosse.
Ray hosted an introduction to lacrosse for the San Francisco press at the Press Club which resulted in coverage in the newspaper. In 1963 he started the Northern California Lacrosse Association. He also started SF Lacrosse Club as well as the Peacock Country Club which was the 1 st team (Marin). Ray was able to get use of the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park (there was no hot water so he raised money to put it in the field house). Introduced and coached lacrosse at UC Davis where he still helps out. In his honor they have built the Ray Grelecki Wall. |
Although Carl Steiner is a native Californian he started playing Lacrosse at St. Mary’s HS in Annapolis, MD where he graduated in 1959. From there he went to the University of Baltimore and played on the Varsity for 3 years.
He continued playing for the Maryland Lacrosse Club until 1969. He ‘returned’ to California and played with the San Francisco club until 1980. He coached at University HS, the Branson School, the Southern Marin Lacrosse Club and Stanford University. While at Stanford he helped start the Palo Alto Tomahawks and the college league that exists today.
In 1975 he started the Western States tournament for men. In 1988 he started the Fog City Summer League. And in 1989 he started the Tahoe tournament. Officially he became a referee in the early 80’s and continues to ref today. He has also served as Chapter president. |
Hank Molloy first heard of lacrosse from a neighbor in Evanston, Illinois, in 1947. In 1958, he started Illinois’ first high school lacrosse program. He then played lacrosse at the US Naval Academy. In 1964 Hank played a couple of games with the newly formed having Palo Alto Lacrosse Club and following completion of Naval service got back into the game more seriously. By 1973, he was elected president of the Palo Alto Lacrosse Club and played midfield.
A neck injury, suffered in an auto accident in 1975, put him on the sideline. In 1982, he got back into the game and decided to go into officiating. Despite a rocky start, Hank stuck with it, studied the Rules, and became proficient in field mechanics. His game improved, and in 1986 he took on the “one year” job of assigning officials for colleges and clubs. Every game had to be assigned at least three times as fields were saturated, floods and mud slides prevailed, with people and teams stranded everywhere. He stayed the course based for another thirteen years as the district assignor of officials. In 1987, he was recognized as man of the year by the Northern California Lacrosse Association and awarded the President’s Cup. He received that award again in 2001.
In 1988, he expanded his publication for Northern California Men’s Officials from being a scheduling and logistics guide, to be the first comprehensive text on men’s lacrosse officiating. He was invited to referee the Division One Men’s North – South game in 1992. After the 1994 season, Hank received the first Frenchy Julien Award by the National Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officials’ Association, an award which is in the Lacrosse Hall Of Fame in Baltimore. He became a listed International Lacrosse Official and participated in the World Games in Manchester. Hank has conducted over one hundred clinics for officials and is still doing clinical training.
In 1995, he organized and led the reintroduction of lacrosse in Ireland with the first men’s lacrosse to be played in the Irish Republic, featuring the University of Notre Dame and Cornell University varsity teams. In 1998, he became the president of the Northern California chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation, which was in the transition of becoming the present chapter of US Lacrosse. He proposed a growth plan to significantly expand. The plan was adopted, and that growth started, and is accelerating today. Hank currently plays with the Navy Old Goats Grand Masters Team, officiates collegiate and high school games, conducts training clinics for officials, coaches introductory camps for youngsters in Santa Clara County, and serves on the board directors and executive committee of his chapter of US Lacrosse. |
