This article, as told to Matt Hamilton, appears in the April edition of US Lacrosse Magazine, which includes a special 12-page section featuring faces and voices of the black lacrosse community. Don’t get the mag? Join US Lacrosse today to start your subscription.
I grew up in Southside Queens. The only other person that you know from there is 50 Cent. People laugh, but that’s where I’m from.
I moved to Uniondale on Long Island in fifth grade. Like any kid in the city, I played football and basketball. A lot of the kids in Uniondale had sticks. I was like, “What’s that?” They told me it was lacrosse. I said, “I’ve never heard of it.”
At my middle school, Turtle Hook, they put a team together. The coach came over to do the team meeting, and I was just straggling around. He walked over to me and asked me what my name was and where I was from. I told him, “I’m from Queens, and I know the game because of your goalie,” who was my friend. He pointed to an extra stick and said, “Hey, this is your stick right here. Come try out next year.”
At Uniondale, I played with a lot of African-Americans. We were going through the same things — with single-parent homes and a lot of guys who lived with their grandparents. My family was going through hard times. We got evicted from our house in Uniondale in 10th grade, and we moved to Hicksville.