Varsity Stickman: 1924

Farked again.

C'mon! If a fellow with such a nicely developed set of quadriceps (and shoulders!) can't qualify for Rake status, who does? Please add him to the list, even if he does have a somewhat whimsical helmet and is named Gomer!

Actually, I rather like the helmet.

Even as we speak, good ol' Gomer is being subjected to the tender mercies of the Farkers. Tune in Thursday night for the results!

When I was a undergrad at U of Maryland during the early 1980s, I used to stop and watch the lacrosse games in the stadium when I was returning to the dorm after a trip to the library. Lots of fun, very very fast.

I just can't imagine playing the game back in the day.

Wood sticks were the first, obviously, and remained traditional for years even with the introduction of plastic-headed sticks with metal shafts. I remember when I first took up the sport and my coach tried to force me to play with wood "because that's what everyone else used" but I refused to go along with it and I had the only plastic stick on the entire team.

Turns out I was ahead of my time. I ended up getting better while everyone else experienced setbacks in their training when they were forced to switch from wood to plastic a few years later.

The setting looks like Lewisohn Stadium on Convent Avenue in New York City. Did they come to NYC to play someone in the area?

[This is Byrd Field at the University of Maryland. Note MARYLAND spelled out across the stadium building. - Dave]

It appears this was taken outside the old Byrd Stadium, which would have been less than a year old at the time of this photo. The old stadium, which seated 5,000, was used for only about 25 years before the Terrapins moved to another (much larger) stadium of the same name on the opposite end of campus, which is still in use today.

The stadium shown in the background of this photo sat on the east side of US Route 1, across from the main section of campus. Ritchie Coliseum, the University's main gymnasium at the time, was built directly adjacent to the stadium in 1931. Today, the University's Fraternity Row sits on the site of the old Byrd Stadium.

It's Ron Weasley with the Quidditch team!

Lacrosse is Canada's national sport, contrary to the beer-swilling, toothless, wrestling-on-ice corporate spectacle they refer to as NHL hockey. The leather helmet is a nice touch -- this guy must be one tough cookie, eh? Most lacrosse in Canadaland is box lacrosse, as opposed to field lacrosse, which is mostly played in hockey arenas.

Nice bod! A shame his name is Gomer. I wonder what became of him. More beefcake, please, Shorpy!

Maryland Agricultural College, now known as the University of Maryland, is in College Park just over the line from Washington. A longtime lacrosse powerhouse along with its Baltimore brethren at Johns Hopkins University.

Gomer Lewis was named All-American out home (attacker) player in 1924 and 1925.

http://www.umterps.com/sports/m-lacros/history/all_americans.html