BBR man honored for contributions to lacrosse

It was a moment Mike Fisher will never forget.

The 72-year-old Black Butte Ranch resident was in Manchester, England, for the World Championships of lacrosse in July. He was on the grass playing his beloved sport for the last time in a long career, during which he pioneered "masters" play in the United States.

As Steve Sternersen of U.S. Lacrosse reports, "In the middle of the game, as he waited for a face-off from his attack position, all players suddenly dropped their sticks and gloves, turned to face him, and applauded furiously to thank him for his leadership and inspiration."

"I had no expectation whatsoever," Fisher told The Nugget, "so it was a complete and total surprise. Obviously a very pleasant one."

Fisher grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, arguably the capital of lacrosse, a sport with Native American origins which resembles hockey, except that it's played on grass and the ball is advanced with passes from a stick with a laced "pocket" on the end for throwing and catching the ball.

"Basically I grew up with a lacrosse stick in my hand," Fisher said.

But the game had to lie fallow as Fisher entered the tiny Hampden-Sydney College, then too small to have a lacrosse squad. He migrated west to the University of Oregon in 1961, to a land where lacrosse was virtually unknown outside a pocket of enthusiasts in Seattle.

Earning an MBA at the U of O, Fisher went into the banking industry, then went to Corvallis where he joined CH2MHill, which was to become one of the premier environmental engineering firms in the world.

"It was just a little local engineering firm at the time," Fisher recalled. "I had a 30-year career there."

That career put him in charge of business operations for the prestigious firm, and when CH2MHill relocated to Denver, Colorado, he went with it.

There, in his late 40s, Fisher reconnected with lacrosse.

"I just read about it or something in the newspapers and I thought I ought to get involved," he said.

When Fisher "gets involved," he really gets involved.

He saw a need to develop different categories of "masters" play and he launched grand masters play for people 45 years and older in 1994. Super masters for older players followed. He worked to get grand masters play qualified as part of world championships play.

"Essentially what they did was give a venue for a lot of older players to play against people of their own age," he said. "That caught on really quickly."

Fisher is a crease attacker when he's on the field, but he acknowledges that his biggest contribution to the game is his organizational work.

"I'm more of an initiator and an organizer than I am what we call an impact player," he said.

He has managed a national team that competed in tournaments around the U.S., mostly on the East Coast, where the sport has a much higher profile than it does in the West.

Fisher says that improvements in equipment, especially protective gear, have allowed people to continue playing for years, honing their skills in a game that rewards stick handling ability and tactical thinking as well as speed and stamina.

Masters, grand masters and super masters play invokes modified contact rules that take account of the fact that the players aren't resilient teens or 20-somethings anymore.

"The guys, after a weekend tournament, want to go back to work on Monday healthy," Fisher said.

What motivates middle aged and older men to fly across the country to chase a ball with a stick?

"The game itself is something that those of us who have stuck with it a long time just love so much," he said. "At the end of the day it's the camaraderie as well as the game itself that feels good and keeps you tied in."

Fisher and his wife Sue moved to Black Butte Ranch four years ago, after maintaining a second residence there since the mid 1980s. He's contributed "indirectly" to the emerging Outlaws lacrosse program, and he's gratified to see lacrosse catching on in the region - largely due to the efforts of Sisters teacher and coach Bill Rexford.

"Bill's a terrific guy and he's done just a superlative job here, getting lacrosse going in the community and in Central Oregon," Fisher said.

But the 72-year-old lacrosse warrior insists that Rexford and other lacrosse pioneers are going to have to get the job done without any direct assistance from this crease attacker.

"I've made a promise to my family that I'm really retired," Fisher said.

He won't be laying around, though.

"I love to fish and I love to hunt upland game, so I keep active that way," he said.

Fisher has at least one more honor coming his way. Next month, he will be inducted into the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame.