From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, Vin LoBello was one of the most impactful men in lacrosse, serving 30 years as the chief referee for New England. He would coordinate game assignments for all high school and college games in the region, recruit and train new officials, and be on the field for many of the top collegiate games.
A resident of Northampton in western Massachusetts, LoBello often worked collaboratively with his good friend Dick Garber, the Hall of Fame coach at UMass Amherst for 35 years, to support the growth of the game throughout the region. In recognition, LoBello, who passed away in 1992, is being inducted posthumously into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame on January 11.
“The bottom line is that he loved the game, and he loved the people that were involved with it,” said LoBello’s son, Vinny. “He put his heart and soul into the game.”
With a limited number of officials during LoBello’s early years, he often worked multiple games each season for the same teams, developing relationships with coaches who he would see frequently. That was the beginning of his friendship with Garber.
“We only lived about 20 minutes from the UMass campus, and dad and Coach Garber became lifetime friends because they were both growing the game in different ways,” Vinny LoBello said. “They were both gentlemen, and well respected throughout the community for their integrity and their philosophy of sportsmanship.”
Lobello shared a funny story that was a reflection of simpler times in lacrosse.
“One year, UMass was playing at Harvard and dad was going to referee the game, but his car broke down and he wasn’t going to be able to make the trip. He called Coach Garber and told him he wasn’t going to be able to work the game the next day because his car had broken down. So Coach Garber told him that if he could get a ride to campus, he could jump on the team bus for the trip to Harvard. And that’s what my dad did. And I think my mom and Mrs. Garber went along too. Can you imagine that happening today, with the visiting team pulling up to a game and the referee for the game getting off the visiting team’s bus?”
The hub of lacrosse for most of LoBello’s career remained in the South, where powerhouse programs like Johns Hopkins, Navy and Maryland dominated the sport’s landscape. His vision was to bring more notoriety to lacrosse in the New England region by helping to support its growth.
LoBello and Garber would often drive around the region together, visiting area high schools and dropping off sticks and helmets they had collected from colleges to help the high school start-up programs. LoBello would also recruit new officials as they made their rounds.
“It was a tight fraternity at that time, whether you were a player or official or a coach,” Vinny LoBello said. “They were lacrosse pioneers and they just kept planting seeds.”
Hall of Fame official Roy Condon says that LoBello’s presence touched every part of lacrosse in New England.
“He would recruit new officials throughout this vast region, finding officials in different geographical areas,” Condon said. “He’d also travel in those days for the joint meetings with officials and coaches to go over new rules, new mechanics, new points of emphasis from the USILA. These things changed on a yearly basis.”
One of LoBello’s proudest moments, according to his son, was when he successfully lobbied to have the North-South Collegiate All-Star Game played at UMass in 1967, and he worked the game alongside Hall of Fame referee Frenchy Julien.
“That was like his biggest goal and he accomplished it,” Vinny LoBello said. “In his eyes, lacrosse in the north had arrived.”
Tickets for the induction ceremony at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel are available for online purchase at www.usalacrosse.com/HOF.
