by Sue Lyons
December 17, 2008
On October 25, 2008 Oren Lyons was inducted into the Native American Hall of fame. The ceremony took place at the Seneca Nation Casino in Niagara Falls NY. Oren was inducted for his long standing lacrosse career. Oren has also been inducted into the Syracuse University hall of fame in 1988, National Lacrosse Hall of fame 1993, Ontario Canada Lacrosse Hall of fame 1998 and the Upstate New York Chapter of USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame 2000.
When Oren accepted his Award He said “The Best honor is when it comes from your own people I am highly honored for this award”. Oren also commented on the community” (I) was lucky to be brought up in a community that had a game like that, it’s a game not a sport its way beyond a sport.” To learn more about Oren Lyons Exceptional lacrosse career and his outstanding contributions to lacrosse one need only Google Oren Lyons and Lacrosse. This article is not only to congratulate Oren on his amazing athletic accomplishments but to share the rest of the Oren Lyons story. During the induction ceremony I interviewed family and friends for a personal view of this 5 time hall of fame inductee.
Several Family and friends attend the induction ceremony when asked if they have ever seen Oren play lacrosse the following answered: Rex Lyons, Oren’s son, remembers seeing his father play “when he (Rex) was real young, He played in the New York club Lacrosse team. Rex remembers the “camaraderie before during and after the game, It was a real family environment.” His sister Shirley Goode said” He was intense and he played hard he was a good, good goalie”. Oren’s friend Rick Hill remembers Oren playing with a short shaft goalie stick that would probably be considered illegal today. Rick said “He (Oren) played with the shortest shaft on his goalie stick and with it he made magic.”
When asked what is your favorite memory of his dad his son Rex said “the Baltimore world games, When the Iroquois Nationals beat England.” In July of 1998.
” It was the first time we beat one of the top teams we struggled up to that point” “The feeling was elation” ” we were finally experiencing some of the reward for all of the hard work we put into this team.