Player. Coach. Stickmaker. Leader. There isn’t an area of lacrosse that Louis Jacques did not touch during his sixty-three years on this earth.

Born in 1922, Louis grew up in Akwesasne where he played and coached the box game. He coached the Onondaga Nation Warriors while playing goalie for this legendary team and kept the job for the next quarter of a century. His teams played against Roy Simmons’ Orange squads in practice. In 1968, he helped found the North American Lacrosse Association competing against other Native American teams at the Onondaga County War Memorial.

Along the way, Louie served as an assistant coach for the United States Box Lacrosse team and taught predominantly field players the unique skills of box lacrosse.

In 1962 he began manufacturing wooden lacrosse sticks, and with the help of his sons, Clyde and Alf produced 12,000 sticks a year in the mid-sixties. Each stick was a work of art.

Louie Jacques passed on in 1985 and was inducted posthumously into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1999. He left a legacy of athletic skill, coaching skill, and stickmaking skill. He richly deserves induction into our Hall of Fame tonight.