Thank You Dave . . .
Hobart announced the passing of former lacrosse head coach Dave Urick yesterday, and I wanted to share a few things.
My first interactions with Dave were in Bristol Gym, usually Monday around noon, when a number of us would play floor hockey. He would come out once in a while and ‘knock it around’ with us. Dave was pretty tough to move out from in front of the net, and he wasn’t above laying the body when needed . . . but I did rob him pretty good a few times with a quick glove those few times I tended the net.
Given how much success he had on the lacrosse field, a lot of people would be surprised that his first head coaching job at Hobart was the football program, and that was my second interaction, as I filmed football at times for him. After the first game, which was a preseason one, he let me know he was happy I had bothered to sit by myself at a road game in the end zone corner to give him a unique perspective of tape.
Dave took over the lacrosse program in a difficult transition, as the move was made a little before the season started.
He was always a gentleman to me, and I never saw him without a smile since I didn’t have to face him on the sideline during a game that wasn’t going well.
In my senior year, I filmed all the games for him at home, as we didn’t film the away games back then. Never heard a complaint from him and always a thank you when our paths crossed.
The pride he gave so many of we Alums with the national championship streak never goes away. When he passed John Wooden, that was just another layer. That type of publicity for a small school located in a city of 11,000 . . . immeasurable.
Thank you Dave. A true class act. You will be missed.
*****
HWS Mourns Legendary Lacrosse Coach, Hall of Famer Dave Urick
Dave Urick, the legendary coach who had a knack for identifying talented athletes and molding them into All-American lacrosse players and led Hobart lacrosse teams to 10 consecutive NCAA Division III National Championships, has died.
Urick spent 19 seasons coaching the Statesmen, including 10 historic seasons as the head coach of Hobart lacrosse. He joined the Hobart coaching staff as an assistant football and lacrosse coach in 1971, a year after graduating from Cortland State.
As an assistant coach, Urick was one of the architects for Hobart lacrosse’s first three national titles, the 1972 USILA Championship as well as the 1976 and 1977 NCAA Division II Championships. He was the co-head coach of the lacrosse team in 1979 and took the reins solo a year later, the same year he stepped down as football coach to dedicate his talents and energy to lacrosse exclusively.
Urick built a dynasty that was unrivaled in the sport. He directed the Statesmen to a 122-30 record in the ’80s, including a 90-3 record against Division III opponents. Urick mentored 40 All-Americans, nine national players of the year, seven national attackmen of the year, five midfielders of the year, five defensemen of the year, and five goalkeepers of the year.
His 1980 squad went 12-2 overall, defeating Cortland 11-8 to capture the inaugural NCAA Division III National Championship. For the rest of the decade, the national championship trophy came home to Geneva under Urick’s watchful eye. Only once in that incredible title run did the championship game come down to a single goal.
In 1982, Hobart trailed Washington (Md.) by as many as three before rallying to take a one-goal lead late in the game. The Shoremen tied the game to send it to overtime, but Urick’s charges captured their third consecutive title two and a half minutes into OT, 9-8.
In 1986, the Statesmen lost their season opener to defending Division I national champion Johns Hopkins, but then rattled off 15 consecutive wins to stretch the title streak to seven. Only one team in the storied history of Hobart lacrosse produced more wins in a season, the 1972 national championship team (17-1).
After engineering his 10th straight championship run, which ended with an 11-8 victory over Ohio Wesleyan in the title game, Urick stepped down to take over as the head lacrosse coach at Georgetown.
In 23 seasons in D.C., Urick never suffered a losing season and led the Hoyas to 11 NCAA tournament appearances, advancing to the national semifinals in 1999. When he retired from Georgetown in 2012, Urick’s career record stood at 352 wins and 132 losses, an impressive winning percentage of .727.
Urick wrote the book on winning lacrosse, literally. In 1988, Sports Illustrated Winner Circle Books published Lacrosse: Fundamentals of Winning by Urick.
Many can speak of having a Hall of Fame career, but few can say they enjoyed a Halls of Fame career. Urick was that rare person. On Oct. 6, 1990, Urick was inducted into the Hobart Athletic Hall of Fame. He was inducted into six additional halls of fame for his contributions as a student-athlete and coach: the Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame (1986), the Upstate New York Lacrosse Hall of Fame (1991), the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (1998), the Potomac Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame (2005), the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame (2014), and the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2016).
In 2012, HWS President Mark Gearan presented Urick with the President’s Medal for outstanding service to the community, to the country and to his profession. In 2018, Hobart and William Smith named the stadium where its lacrosse and football teams play in his honor. The Statesmen and Herons compete on Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium. (With Stadium Naming, HWS Pays Tribute to Urick’s Legacy)
