My Lacrosse Life: Ned Crotty

From Delbarton (N.J.) to Duke, the Tewaaraton stage to the pros and Manchester to Netanya, the three-time U.S. team star won titles at every level. At age 39, he was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

My First Love: HOCKEY

Growing up in Madison, New Jersey, I played hockey eight months out of the year, lacrosse the other four months. When I was playing hockey, I loved playing hockey. When I was playing lacrosse, I loved playing lacrosse. 
I was a Madison Dodger.

Keep Your Head Up

One thing I took from hockey to lacrosse: You can’t have your head down. If you don’t play with your head up, you’re going to end up in a hospital. When coaching lacrosse, that’s my big point. Guys are running hard, but they’re looking down or looking at their stick. Keep your chin on your shoulder.

Ankle Socks, EW

I always wore calf socks. I think it’s weird when guys wear ankle socks. It was becoming more en vogue toward the end of my career.

2010 USA-Canada Final

We were down one. The ball was right in front of the bench. All of a sudden, I hear, “Needles!” That’s what Coach [Mike] Pressler called me. As I come on, I see this lane opening. We kept saying, “Shoot the ball high. He’s dropping.” I cut as hard as I could. I was tentative earlier in the tournament. So I’m like, “If I catch this, I’m letting it rip.” Shot it sidearm low to high. I wasn’t going back to the bench that.

WORDS TO LIVE BY

If a coach tells you to specialize, leave the team. Whatever made me good at lacrosse, I learned from hockey.

A Lucky Bounce

I had Kevin Crowley on me. That field was like ice. It had this weird short turf with sand under it. Being a lefty, in the big moment I wanted my left, but Kevin knew enough not to let that happen. Right as I got to GLE, my feet went out from underneath me. I just slammed the ball to the turf not having any idea what would happen, and it bounced perfectly right under the crossbar . Ended up being the game-winning goal. That 2010 world championship in Manchester will always hold a special place in my heart.

Hall of Fame

Getting inducted in the Hall of Fame was never why I played. I never wrote that on the wall. But looking back, I can’t believe what I was able to accomplish. The Hall of Fame is that last bit of validation. The last time I had this feeling was the first time I was on Team USA in 2010.

My Millennial Inspo

Remember when Johnny Christmas was the first one to flip his visor so it came down lower? I did that. I saw Brian Crockett using black shooting strings in the 2004 final four and then used black shooting strings my entire career. However many YouTube views Mikey Powell has, I must be half of them. I grew up trying to pick bits and pieces of everybody’s game and bring it into my own. One of my greatest skills is my ability to emulate. The one thing I couldn’t get was the Kyle Harrison jump shot.

22

I wore 22 growing up because of the Powell brothers. I did not wear it in high school. I was No. 10. When I got to Duke, Pressler wanted me to wear 22. The number stuck with me until my first time with USA. Pretty cool reason not to wear it because I was playing with Ryan Powell. So yeah, “You got it, man. I’ll wear 12.”

7-8:20

I get to skate on Wednesday nights here in New York City, so I still get my hockey fix. It’s 7-8:20 on Wednesday nights at Chelsea Piers. Forty guys. You pick teams. No refs. No hitting. It’s the highlight of my week. I don’t know if I’ll ever pick up a lacrosse stick competitively again, but I love skating.

2006-2010

You hear a lot in sports where it’s us against the world. But at Duke in 2006, it was a very real thing. It was us against the world. They fired our coach, canceled our program, kicked us out of school. And everybody was wrong. To bookend the worst time in program history and the best  (title in 2010) was unbelievable.