Introducing the 2024 Legends of Lake Placid inductees…
July 1, 2024
Scoop – there it is.
That’s right; you’re hearing it here first.
Congratulations to Mick Dyer, Mickey Blanchfield, Tera Larson, Liz Beville, Brown State, and the family and friends of the late Pat Lally on their selection for induction into the Legends of Lake Placid. This year’s ceremony will take place one month from today, on Thursday, August 1 at the Lake Placid Horse Show Grounds Pavilion. Exact time and ticket/dinner information will be announced in the coming weeks.
I’ve said it many times before – I love being involved in Hall of Fame-type committee work. In the past 20 years, I’ve served on the Athletic HOF committee at Oswego State, the Wall of Fame selection committee at the Hannibal Central School District, and the Upstate Lacrosse Foundation’s HOF committee. I’ve been involved with the Lake Placid Legends just about since the beginning.
With the Legends, I get to do all the fun stuff – yes, I have a small say in the selections (after 17 years, I still feel like a newcomer when it comes to LPSC history), but more importantly, I get to send the congratulatory email and then follow that up with editing inductees’ bios and collecting photos that will be used on the SLV website and on Legends banners.
So sometime around mid-March we finalized our 2024 slate of inductees, and I sent those emails. Sometimes I know the recipients and sometimes I don’t, but either way, it’s very gratifying to exchange emails and texts with the winners. They’re always so appreciative and humble!
Mick and Mickey are both being inducted under the Larry Piatelli Award category. Larry was a long-time official in the New England area and a long-time Lake Placid referee. The Piatelli Award has been presented to a Lake Placid ref since way back in 2004, making it one of the oldest LP Awards.
Both Mick and Mickey are long-time officials in the Albany area, with resumes including Sectional and State playoff experience as well as NCAA tournament assignments. Mickey played on some of the very first LeMoyne Dolphin teams in the mid ‘80s, and Mick played at both Hudson Valley CC and SUNY Geneseo.
It wasn’t until I read Mickey’s bio that I learned he had played at LeMoyne; I only knew him as a regular in the Lake Placid referee pool. I’ve always had an affinity for those Dolphin teams – head coach Tom Diehl and I were young coaches who supported and helped one another through those early years. Besides playing one another every fall and again every spring, he invited me to work at his lacrosse camp, and I enjoyed infiltrating the LeMoyne campus and getting to know their players and coaches.
And I actually played defense with Mick on a Capitaland or Cloudsplitter team at Lake Placid many years ago, and then imagine my surprise when I bumped into him at a Florida Southern game in Lakeland, Florida a few years ago. Turns out his sons Cody and Kevin both played for the D-II Moccasins, just a few minutes from where my parents lived.
So these Legends… well, let’s just say they’re often familiar faces.
I didn’t know Tera (Patenaude) Larson well, but I knew she was a long-time athletic trainer at Lake Placid – and I knew she was one of the first on the scene in 2022 when Peter Tracy, a player on the Ultra Legends 65+ team, collapsed during a game on Field 7 a few years ago. The story got a lot of attention because one of the referees – Jim Loffredo – was among the first to start CPR on Tracy, and because the story had a happy ending. Tera downplayed her quick, life-saving response, but that kind of humility is common among her kind. Her induction into the Legends is in the Tom Pillsworth Award silo, which recognizes the contributions of long-time tournament employees.
Liz Beville is one of Steve Beville’s two daughters, so if the name sounds familiar, it should. Liz grew up playing lacrosse and then gravitated towards coaching after her college days were over. While her Dad coached at Washington College, Colorado, Vermont, and Cortland (winning a national championship in 2009), Liz’s coaching career has included stops at Muhlenberg, Cortland, Colorado Mesa, and Colgate before her hiring at LeMoyne in 2019. Liz has played on, coached, and organized women’s teams at Lake Placid for years, and she is being inducted as this year’s recipient of the Jim Muhlfelder Award, which honors those who have made significant contributions to the women’s side of the Summit Classic.
Brown State is receiving Team of Distinction honors this year, recognizing their long-time participation and support of the Lake Placid tournament. Personally, when it comes to Brown University, I only know a few names (but they’re big ones – i.e. Dom Starsia, Dave White, Lars Tiffany, and Jamie Munro). But when I contacted team rep Tom Dwyer this spring with the good news, he was quick to express his appreciation, quick with a team bio, and quick with a team picture. I’m looking forward to meeting him in person in a few weeks.
And finally, we have the somber but well-deserved posthumous induction of Pat Lally, winner of this year’s Paul Rose Award for dedication and commitment to the tournament. Working under the HQ tent at Lake Placid, I knew who Pat was, but I didn’t know him well. What I do remember about him was the constant smile on his face; he just always seemed to be overjoyed to be at Placid with his lacrosse “family.” Pat was the founder of the Buffalo Soldiers Lacrosse Club, a youth organization in Western New York that grew to include men’s teams and steady participation in Lake Placid every summer. Pat passed away in January of 2023 at the age of 53. His wife Kathi and friends were very helpful in helping me write his Legends bio – and wait until you see the photo they gave me. It definitely depicts the Pat Lally that I remember.
And there you have it – the Legends of Lake Placid Class of 2024. Congratulations to one and all!
Whether you’re playing, coaching, parenting, or just coming up to meet up with old friends and teammates, plan on being in town on Thursday night, August 1 and join us for the induction ceremony at the Horse Show Grounds Pavilion. I believe there’s a 70+ exhibition game planned for earlier in the day, and author Jim Calder is going to give a brief talk about someone near and dear to the Upstate lacrosse scene. As details emerge regarding reservations, cost, and exact time, I’ll pass that info along.
In the meantime, thanks for reading. Please consider subscribing at roadtripdad.com to receive weekly RTD newsletters via email. It’s free – really! No fine print; no catches.
In the meantime, please drive carefully, everyone. Put down those cell phones. Volunteer. Donate blood. Get your shots; get your boosters. Love your neighbor. Help someone in need, and always take care of your crew!
But most importantly, stay safe, stay smart, and stay kind.
- Dan Witmer
Dan is currently the author of four books. The Best of Road Trip Dad – The Laker Lacrosse Collection is an accumulation of 45 articles written for www.JustLacrosseUpstate between the years 2012 and 2018, about the history and traditions, the people, and the stories of the Oswego State men’s lacrosse program. … and piles to go before I sleep – The Book of Wit is his memoir describing his 33-year career teaching HS English and coaching at Hannibal Central School. His third book, The Best of RTD – A Lacrosse Coach’s Handbook contains more than 55 weekly Road Trip Dad blogs spanning 2012-2020, featuring Xs and Os, highs and lows, and even some Dos and Don'ts, and plenty of advice for coaches of all levels. His latest book, The Best of Road Trip Dad – On the Shoulders of Giants: Upstate’s Lacrosse Founders and Legends, profiles more than 50 icons who helped grow the game in Upstate NY. All four books are available at www.amazon.com.
Dan grew up in Lynbrook, NY before coming to Oswego State to earn his teaching and coaching certifications. He then taught English at Hannibal High School for 33 years before retiring in 2015.
In addition to coaching the Oswego State Laker men’s lacrosse team part-time from 1982-2010, Dan also coached JV and varsity girls’ soccer at Hannibal for 16 years, girls’ ice hockey at Oswego HS for 8 years, and boys’ JV and varsity lacrosse at Oswego HS for 12 years.
Dan is now in his 18th year assisting Summit Lacrosse Ventures with their various tournaments, especially the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic, and he worked for 3d Lacrosse for three years as well. He has served on the staffs of the 2014 FIL World Games in Denver, the 2015 FIL Indoor Championships in Syracuse, the 2018 FIL World Games in Netanya, Israel, the 2022 U21 World Championship in Limerick, Ireland, and the World Lacrosse Championships in San Diego in 2023. He is the game ops staff director for the World Lacrosse Men’s and Women’s Box Championships in Utica in September of 2024. This year he created Witmer Solutions LLC, a lacrosse event staffing and internship offering service that he hopes will get his foot – and others’ – in the door at lacrosse events worldwide.
Dan served as the Community Service Coordinator for the Oswego State athletic department from 2010-2023 and has been a certified lacrosse referee for the past seven years. He has also been the Volunteer Event Organizer for the annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser in Oswego for the past 18 years, raising more than one million dollars for childhood cancer research.
In 2023, he returned to the Oswego State coaching staff as an assistant coach, where he currently serves as defensive coordinator and alumni liaison.
Dan and Sue Witmer live in Oswego, while their sons Brian and Eric are currently living in Prague and Denver.
The hope is for many more road trips to come.