When Christie Jenkins Kemezis received a phone call from Maryland head coach Cathy Reese, she thought they were just going to discuss some “things, Terps, this and that.” What Reese really wanted to discuss: Jenkins Kemezis’ induction into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
“I was surprised,” Jenkins Kemezis said.”I'm completely honored, just knowing how many amazing players are out there, before me, after me, with me.”
But Jenkins Kemezis is one of those great players, and she still has four NCAA championship rings from her All-American career at Maryland to prove it — and a Women’s World Cup medal she won in England with the U.S. team in 2001.
The Class of 2025 also includes Ned Crotty, Matt Danowski, Leif Elsmo, Maggie Faulkner, Tom Flatley (posthumous), Crista Samaras and her former Maryland teammate Kristin Sommar Jenney.
Tickets for the Jan. 10 event are now on sale.
Jenkins Kemezis’ bio reads like a Hall of Famer’s, but her early days in the sport are a departure from modern-day norms for how lacrosse players get their start (Jenkins Kemezis knows first-hand — her own daughter started lacrosse at four). Jenkins Kemezis, who grew up in the Philly suburbs, didn't start lacrosse until the seventh grade.
“Some of my friends were trying lacrosse,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “I never heard of it — didn’t know what it was. I’m like, ‘You know what? Maybe I’ll give it a try. That looks like fun, so I put the tennis racquet down, picked up a lacrosse stick, and we had a great seventh-grade year. My last year in middle school, we went undefeated.”
Jenkins Kemezis, who also starred in volleyball for Penncrest High School, says her time on the tennis court wasn’t for naught. It likely served her well in lacrosse — the quick steps, lateral movements and short bursts of speed. But at the time? Jenkins Kemezis was just having fun. She wasn’t even thinking that much about college lacrosse, but soon learned she was on Maryland’s radar. It was 1992, and the Terps were coming off their first NCAA championship in the Cindy Timchal era.
“They were recruiting me, and I was like, ‘Wow, could this even be possible?’” Jenkins Kemezis says.
It was. Jenkins Kemezis met then Maryland assistant coach Gary Gait and Timchal. Then, Gait showed up at one of Jenkins Kemezis’ championship volleyball matches — she can’t remember if it was for the county or conference crown. But she remembers it was loud.
“Volleyball is hype — you’re in the gym, everyone’s hooting and hollering, and it’s fun,” Jenkins Kemezis said.
But not so loud that Gait couldn’t hear her say “yes” to spending her collegiate career with the Terps.
“I was like, ‘Yes, I would love to be able to compete at this level,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “I committed and then got to go watch them win their second national championship in a row [in 1997] at Lehigh.”
Hindsight makes it seem like Maryland was a lock to win a national championship in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s. The Terps’ championship banner would make even Yankee fans swoon — seven straight titles from 1995 to 2001. Jenkins Kemezis was there for four of them (1997-2000). But, contrary to the adage, hindsight is not always 20/20. Jenkins Kemezis recalls arriving in Maryland after Kelly Amonte Hiller's graduation.
“We had some big shoes to fill,” she recalled.
The Terps raced out to a 14-0 start during her freshman season, though, carrying a 50-game winning streak into an April 22, 1997 meeting with Loyola. But the Greyhounds upended Maryland, 7-6. But those Terps got a second chance in the national championship, a moment that still stands out as a highlight for Jenkins Kemezis, going on two decades later.
“That first national championship just meant the world to us,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “We had lost to Loyola that season, and then got to see them in the national championship and beat them. That was pretty awesome.
Indeed, Maryland took that meeting, 8-7, to win another national title, and the first of a 4-out-of-4 career for Jenkins Kemezis.
Beyond the scenes, Jenkins Kemezis got an up-close look at the now-legendary Timchal-Gait duo — how they played off one another and weren’t afraid to innovate.
“Cindy was our motivator,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “She led the charge with her vision and excitement. She brought the game to a whole new level. She actually brought in a sports psychologist — this is the late 90s. I don't think anybody was doing anything like that. She flew someone in from California who would work with us on our mind and our body, which I think was ahead of the pack.”
Gait was all X’s and O’s and then some.
“We had Gary, the greatest lacrosse player ever, teaching us stick skills ... so he brought our skills to a higher level,” she said. “Having them lead us and then having everyone on the team contribute set us apart from other teams.”
Jenkins Kemezis also set herself apart, helping the Terps break ground and win their first ACC crown in 1997 (a title they’d hold three times during her tenure). She was a three-time All-American, a two-time captain, the 1999 ACC Player of the Year and selected to the ACC’s 50th-anniversary team in 2002. (Sometimes, hindsight is 20/20.)
But Jenkins Kemezis wasn’t done with lacrosse when she turned her tassel in 2001, having become a part of the USA system during her collegiate days.
“I got to try out my freshman year with Kristin Sommar [Jenney], who is one of my best friends,” Jenkins Kemezis said of her fellow National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee. “She made it after freshman year, and I’m like, ‘This is actually totally doable. We can do it.’ I made it the next year.”
In 2001, Jenkins Kemezis and her teammates struck gold in England at the Women’s World Cup.
“It was unbelievable,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “You can’t imagine anything greater than winning national championships. I think the coolest part of it is getting to wear that uniform, putting on a uniform that says USA and wearing red, white and blue.”
Jenkins Kemezis did eventually hang up her cleats and uniforms, delving into auto sales. But she left to focus on family a few years ago when her son began high school, which is 40 minutes away.
“I was able to drive him, and both my kids play sports, so I was able to be a part of that,” Jenkins Kemezis said.
“Part of” includes coaching her daughter and her friends for more than 10 years, something she was able to dig into more once she left the W2 workforce. And she’s leaned into the lessons she learned as a player during this process.
“One thing [playing lacrosse] really taught me was leading by example,” Jenkins Kemezis said. “You always put your best foot forward and want to be the hardest-working person out there. Learning by example encourages everyone else to jump in, and that definitely has helped later in life.”
Now, Jenkins Kemezis is focused on passing these lessons on to the next generations of players and humans, including her children, who will attend her induction ceremony.
“[My kids] have gotten to experience ... the work ethic and hard work it takes [to be great at a sport],” Jenkins Kemezis said. “Then, on top of that, you see the lifelong friendsyou can make. It brings our family together to go to games and travel ... My daughter has had the opportunity to travel to England through the game of lacrosse. My kids have grown their base and friendship ... because lacrosse is such a great network of people, and a game brings people together.”
