Doxzon, a Lake Placid resident, spent a good portion of the early 1970s helping to lay the foundation for the West Virginia University men’s club lacrosse team.

And, it’s what led him to be inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame on April 12. Doxzon spent last week in Morgantown, West Virginia, for the induction and said everything was a bit overwhelming. He added that it was such an honor and was something he never expected.

Doxzon is now retired, although he does work part-time at The Bookstore Plus on Main Street in Lake Placid. He previously owned Adirondack Lakes and Trails Outfitters in Saranac Lake and has been in the region for nearly 40 years.

After making it to the induction ceremony last week, he noticed that his No.12 jersey was hanging from the rafters of the Morgantown Marriott. Right next to it was the late Jerry West’s No. 44.

Steve Doxzon, left, poses alongside fellow Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Rampon at the West Virginia Men’s Club Lacrosse Hall of Fame ceremony in Morgantown, West Virginia on April 12. (Provided photo)

“I didn’t know Jerry West played lacrosse here,” Doxzon joked. The famed Former NBA legend and West Virginia alum had his jersey retired from all WVU athletic teams in January.

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Playing days

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Doxzon grew up in Towson, Maryland, and started playing lacrosse at a young age, continuing through high school.

After making a pit stop at a community college, he transferred to West Virginia University in the fall of 1971. At this point, a friend of his, Jeff Dreisbach, had started the Mountaineers club lacrosse team in the spring, and the club had already played its first full season.

So the following spring, Doxzon joined the team as both a player and a coach. He continued that role from the 1972 season to 1974 — the year he graduated.

Doxzon said he talked with Dreisbach before enrolling at West Virginia about the prospect of both playing and coaching there during its second official season. Doxzon added that he had been playing the game a lot longer than most people, so that’s kind of why he was thrust into the coaching position.

“I think I had a little bit more insight into positions on the field, being able to coach the team,” he said. “It wasn’t that (Dreisbach) wasn’t a good coach; he was a good organizer — that’s what he was. The guys were always at practice, and he was good at keeping it going and stuff.

“But as far as technicalities, I felt like I knew the game a little bit more than he did, so I think he got it started,” Doxzon added. “I think between the two of us, and one or two guys that played and that could help the somewhat inexperienced players or guys that hadn’t had as much time on the field, I think it was kind of a group effort to keep it going.”

He said during the early years, the team was there mostly to have fun, and there really wasn’t any pressure since they weren’t a varsity sport or on a scholarship.

“We practiced when we could,” Doxzon said. “We tried to practice three or four times a week, but (that didn’t always work) with people’s course schedules and stuff. We also scrambled around trying to find enough players for a weekend game.”

He added that a lot of the players on the team did have some experience playing.

“They had all played in high school, and some of them were pretty good,” Doxzon said. “But after high school, playing lacrosse wasn’t a big priority for them. But some of the guys were pretty good.”

He said the players came from the Maryland area, Pennsylvania, Ohio — the states that had active high school lacrosse programs. The Mountaineers played in the Midwest Club Lacrosse Association at that time, and according to Doxzon, they competed against a couple of teams in West Virginia, including Bethany College.

“Then we played Pitt, they had a club up there,” he said. “Pittsburgh versus West Virginia is a huge rivalry, so that was always a fun game. We played over in Frostburg — western Maryland. Ann Arbor, Michigan, we played Michigan State in Michigan. We played Ohio State, Miami of Ohio. There were several teams in Ohio and southern Michigan that we played. We did pretty well, the last year I played and coached, we won our division in the Midwest Club Lacrosse Association.”

The lacrosse team played its home games on the original Mountaineer Field, which was used by the West Virginia football team, before the new Mountaineer Field was built in 1980. Doxzon said it was one of the early astroturf fields, and it was fun playing at a big stadium.

“You’d look around and there would be maybe 20 people in the crowd, but that didn’t matter to us,” he said.

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Changed game

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Doxzon made the “long drive” down to Morgantown from Lake Placid last week. He made a day-long stop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to visit family on the way.

Doxzon admitted he didn’t think the Hall of Fame induction was a big deal at all.

“Then I talked to people who said ‘That’s great,’ and ‘That’s a big deal and stuff,'” he said. “The closer I got to it, I thought, ‘Oh wow, this is cool.'”

Doxzon spent three to four days down in Morgantown, talking with his former teammates and even watching lacrosse.

“The game has changed quite a bit,” he admitted. “It’s a faster game, and I think a lot of it has to do with the sticks that they play with now,” he said. “When we played, we were still using wooden sticks made up here in the Akwesasne region. The ball didn’t go as fast as it does now, and you couldn’t do the things with those sticks that you can do with the plastic sticks. It’s a faster game, and a lot of the teams play on artificial surfaces, which really makes it more fast.”

Doxzon also noticed that lacrosse balls are now nowhere near as hard as the ones he played with.

“They were just solid rubber, and they were really hard,” he said. “You didn’t want to get hit with it. Now, (with how) fast it can come out of the stick, it can really hurt to be hit by a ball.”

But still, to Doxzon, the strategy and philosophy of the game remains the same.

“I think it really hasn’t changed a whole lot, but it definitely seems to be a bit of a faster game than it used to be,” he said. “Players can do things with the plastic sticks that they can do with the wooden sticks.”

Doxzon has had the chance to play in the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic lacrosse tournaments in the past, but said he doesn’t play enough to be on the field. However, he is hoping to return to the sport, at least from the coaching standpoint.

“I just recently got involved in the youth lacrosse program here,” he said. “They are getting started in the beginning of May.”

In the past, Doxzon coached lacrosse at North Country Community College, after being asked to by then-Athletic Director Bob Hudak. He coached there for two seasons before the program fizzled away.

Looking back on his journey, Doxzon said he learned a lot about the sport from his high school lacrosse coach and was thankful for his time in Morgantown.

When Doxzon left West Virginia in 1974, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen to the lacrosse program.

“But here we are 50-some years later, and it’s still going,” he said. “That’s quite a testament to the legacy that we got started there back in the ’70s.”