Native Roots, Game's History Hold Special Meaning for Hall of Famer Paul Rabil

By most accounts, Paul Rabil is one of the most decorated and accomplished players in modern lacrosse history. He has won multiple college, professional and world championships, and in the process, garnered so many individual awards that it’s easy to lose track.

Deservedly, he is being inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on January 11 as a truly great player.

But there’s also another layer of Rabil that only reveals itself in conversations and during his opportunities to reflect on his success. He is a passionate student of lacrosse history, with great appreciation for the game’s Native roots and an understanding of its unique story.

“This game is special. Over the past few years, as I’ve experienced the history more and connected with Native American culture, I began to understand the connection that we each have with our stick,” Rabil said. “How those sticks were first crafted from a Hickory tree and given to a young Native boy in the crib, and then buried with that same Native American in their grave, and the relationship that the game has with the Creator. All of that, to me, makes lacrosse so unique and, I think, the best sport in the world.”

As somebody who has accepted the responsibility of serving as a lacrosse ambassador for much of his career, Rabil is excited about the sport’s next step forward — inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics. His enthusiasm is fueled by the opportunity to expose lacrosse to a worldwide audience and the potential for unparalleled growth.

“I think it’s going to be unbelievably valuable to participatory growth around the world, along with viewership and entertainment value and community connection,” Rabil said. “There is nothing more universally understood in sports than the Olympics. Having the global attention of three billion people watching, along with all the marketing and awareness and storytelling that the sport will get is unlike anything else. So, I’m absolutely thrilled.”

Of course, Rabil the game historian has a keen understanding of lacrosse’s prior history with the Olympics.

“The modern Olympic Games started in 1896, and lacrosse was included in 1904 and 1908, so it was very early on when lacrosse was represented, and then I understood why it wasn’t,” Rabil said. “There are all these nuances of what the Games require for new sports, and there’s a lot of people that have done a terrific job over the last 25 years to charter a path to get us back in with a version of the game, Sixes, that 92 countries are now embracing.”

Rabil, who began playing the game at age 12 when his neighbor gave him a used stick, has high hopes that the Olympic exposure will allow many around the world to see the qualities that make the game so appealing to him.

“Lacrosse’s history, along with its artisanship, teamwork, precision, speed, endurance, and physicality, all make it so unique,” Rabil said. “It’s balletic.”

He has great appreciation for all that the game has provided to him.

Rabil was a four-time All-America player and two-time NCAA champion at Johns Hopkins, one of the most storied programs in collegiate history. He enjoyed a professional playing career that included championships in both the National Lacrosse League and Major League Lacrosse, along with multiple MVP and all-star honors.

He retired in 2021 as the all-time scoring leader in professional field lacrosse with 657 points. Along the way, he also won two world championships with the U.S. Men’s National Team, including All-World selections in 2010 & 2014.

These days, Rabil remains intensely involved in the leadership of the Premier Lacrosse League, the outdoor professional league that he co-founded in 2019. He remains an innovator who wants to keep growing the sport from the business side, just as he did for so long from a player’s side.

“How I got here was largely due to the struggles I had faced previously as professional player,” Rabil said. “Had it not been for what I would call entrepreneurial learnings by necessity, I wouldn’t have picked up my sports business executive pedigree. So, I’m very grateful for my time as a professional player and for those years when I was doing both leagues and just cutting my teeth and learning.”

Rabil has a simple view of all that he’s accomplished, and continues to accomplish.

“I hope that when all is said and done,” he said, “I left the game in a better place than when I found it.”

Tickets for the induction ceremony at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel are available for online purchase at www.usalacrosse.com/HOF.