The Family Game: Little Spence No Longer

You might think given his pedigree that Spencer Ford Jr. had no choice but to play lacrosse. That if only by sheer osmosis, he was bound to love the sport his father played and coached professionally. He played catch with Casey Powell, for crying out loud.

But for two insufferable springs in grade school, Ford decided to play baseball instead of lacrosse.

“Lacrosse was in my blood,” Ford said. “It had been my favorite sport, something I loved. But I just wasn’t having fun playing lacrosse.”

That changed, however, when Ford met the late Dave Huntley. As much as Ford enjoyed being a toddler in the locker room when his father played for the Los Angeles Riptide and throwing around with Powell when his father was the general manager of the Chesapeake Bayhawks, it was Huntley who unlocked his passion.

“Hunts was just so laid back, it was easy for the boys to gravitate toward him,” said Spencer Ford Sr., who coached alongside Huntley and worked in the front office for the Atlanta Blaze. “You couldn’t be around him and not love lacrosse.”

A larger-than-life figure in the sport, Huntley died of a heart attack in 2017.

“He’s the main reason I got back into lacrosse,” said the younger Ford, now a senior attackman at Boys’ Latin (Md.) and prized Maryland recruit. “I started to actually study and love the game.”

Father and son have some similarities. A three-time Major League Lacrosse All-Star who set the MLL single-season record with 47 assists in 2007, Spencer Ford Sr. made a living setting up others to score. Spencer Ford Jr. has comparable vision and passing ability, but “Little Spence” is three inches taller (6-foot-3) than “Big Spence” and can gain separation from his defender to score on his own.

Ford is the top-rated attackman in the high school class of 2024, according to the National Lacrosse Federation. How good is he? Johns Hopkins pulled out Huntley’s size-medium No. 18 jersey he wore for the Blue Jays’ NCAA championship teams in 1978 and 1979 for Ford to try on during his recruiting visit. It almost worked. Ford chose Maryland, however, over Hopkins and his father’s alma mater, Towson.

“We were a little bit torn there,” Spencer Ford Sr. said.

Ford and his Crabs Lacrosse teammate — Loyola Blakefield (Md.) and two-time USA Select defenseman Peter Laake — both committed to Maryland on the heels of the Terps’ undefeated run to the NCAA championship in 2022. Ford had heard that Maryland coach John Tillman, who is unmarried, treated his players like sons. That resonated with someone who can’t help but view his lacrosse experience through a father-son lens.

“He’s taught me pretty much everything I know,” he said. “He’s been the guy I’ve looked up to since I was 4 playing in the backyard with a tennis ball and a mini-goal.”

BLOODLINES

Spencer Sr. on Spencer Jr.: When I was playing for the LA Riptide and having a few of my best seasons, Spencer would have made the team over me. He’s 1,000 times better.

Spencer Jr. on Spencer Sr.: There’s a clip I saw on YouTube. Towson was playing Syracuse in the Dome. He was a middie, blew past a guy and stuck it.

Spencer Sr. on Spencer Jr.: Remember how it was hard for goalies to see in the Dome? Yeah, that’s why that went in. His athleticism is very surprising. He calls himself slow, but if you remember watching Conor Gill play, there are great similarities.

Spencer Jr. on Spencer Sr.: He hates losing. I hate losing also, but he just hates it at another level.