L to R: Sam Stadler, Dave Tubbs, Liz for Pete Faulkner, Dave Tubbs, Henry Molloy
DAVE TUBBS
Dave Tubbs graduated from Towson High School in Baltimore in 1946. From there he went on to Duke University where he played goalie and received All American honorable mention in 1948 and 49.
Dave went on to work for IBM and played club lacrosse in Buffalo, North Carolina, Oakland, Palo Alto, SF, and LA. He started officiating in 1965 and brought people from across the country to give workshops.
Dave took over the Northern California chapter after Sam Sadtler as the 2 nd pres.. Today Dave is still active as assistant Varsity coach at Bellarmine and with the visiting coaches program.
SAM STADLER
Sam Sadtler grew up in Baltimore and got his first stick in 1945 at the Gilman School. From there he went on to Towson High. Sam was in the service from 55-57, after which he worked and played club lacrosse. He enrolled in the University of Maryland and ‘walked on’ the team. He graduated in 1963.
After college he came to Southern California and played with the LA Lax club. He moved to the Bay Area in 1969 and played with the Palo Alto club and in 1974 started to coach at Stanford. He was a member of the Norcal All Star team in 1968 and 1971. In 1970 at a Tuesday night meeting he was elected Vice President of Norcal Lacrosse. Sam became president in 1971-2.
In 1978 he facilitated the decision to have all collegiate programs become totally undergraduate. In 1986 he started the Northern California chapter of the US Lacrosse Foundation. He enabled the funding of the foundation through the generous endowment left by Pete Faulkner. Sam served on the Board of Directors of USILA to support the growth and development of club teams. In 1994 he helped form national playoffs of USILA.
There is an award in his name for the person (coach) making the biggest contribution each year. Sam left Bay area in 1989 and coached the Portland lacrosse club from 1992-94. He helped elevate the Pacific Lacrosse League and to become the 1st international league with the inclusion of Simon Frasier University. Sam also helped start and develop the Oregon chapter of US Lacrosse and is now concentrating on youth lacrosse.
RAY GRELECKI
Ray Grelecki was born in 1920, and graduated from University of Maryland in 1949. This was after he served in the military in the OSS. Ray was the CO of the Operations Group of the OSS Mercy Team that worked in Hanoi. He was the first American to parachute into Hanoi after the Japanese surrender (~1945), and while there his group provided humanitarian aid to Allied POW's and civilians.
After the war, Mr. Grelecki became a businessman, with ten import-export offices in the Far East and was a charter member of the CIA. His lacrosse career is equally as stellar. During the depression, in jr..high school, Ray learned to play lacrosse with a repaired stick from a brother. He went to Baltimore City College High School and then received an academic and athletic scholarship to the University of Maryland. Ray was an All-American and National High Scorer.
He moved to California in 1950 and didn’t see a single lacrosse stick. Ray contacted his friend ‘Bacharach’ who sent him 100 sticks free of charge. He went around to the High Schools without much interest – ‘don’t rock the boat’, ‘we don’t need another sport’ attitude. Ray knew Dick Nolan from 49ers who invited him to put on a demonstration at halftime at Kezar Stadium. This event, which included Playboy bunnies with lacrosse sticks throwing a ball around, was televised by CBS - the first time the Western US got to have a good look at lacrosse.
Ray hosted an introduction to lacrosse for the San Francisco press at the Press Club which resulted in coverage in the newspaper. In 1963 he started the Northern California Lacrosse Association. He also started SF Lacrosse Club as well as the Peacock Country Club which was the 1 st team (Marin). Ray was able to get use of the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park (there was no hot water so he raised money to put it in the field house). Introduced and coached lacrosse at UC Davis where he still helps out. In his honor they have built the Ray Grelecki Wall.
JAY PEARSON
Jay Pearson played lacrosse at Syracuse University and helped start Northern California lacrosse.
PETE FAULKNER
Pete Faulkner was a person who heard his own drummer. He dedicated his life to lacrosse and safety with respect to nuclear power plants. He came out of the Air Force to Stanford to do graduate work. He started the team at Stanford in about 1963.
Pete was also instrumental in starting the Palo Alto lacrosse club in 1965 as well as the first youth programs in Menlo Park. Pete left a sizable contribution to local lacrosse which has become a reasonable endowment for the local chapter. He was the author of a controversial book, The Silent Bomb.
CARL STEINER
Although Carl Steiner is a native Californian he started playing Lacrosse at St. Mary’s HS in Annapolis, MD where he graduated in 1959. From there he went to the University of Baltimore and played on the Varsity for 3 years.
He continued playing for the Maryland Lacrosse Club until 1969. He ‘returned’ to California and played with the San Francisco club until 1980. He coached at University HS, the Branson School, the Southern Marin Lacrosse Club and Stanford University. While at Stanford he helped start the Palo Alto Tomahawks and the college league that exists today.
In 1975 he started the Western States tournament for men. In 1988 he started the Fog City Summer League. And in 1989 he started the Tahoe tournament. Officially he became a referee in the early 80’s and continues to ref today. He has also served as Chapter president.
HENRY 'HANK' MOLLOY
Hank Molloy first heard of lacrosse from a neighbor in Evanston, Illinois, in 1947. In 1958, he started Illinois’ first high school lacrosse program. He then played lacrosse at the US Naval Academy. In 1964 Hank played a couple of games with the newly formed having Palo Alto Lacrosse Club and following completion of Naval service got back into the game more seriously. By 1973, he was elected president of the Palo Alto Lacrosse Club and played midfield.
A neck injury, suffered in an auto accident in 1975, put him on the sideline. In 1982, he got back into the game and decided to go into officiating. Despite a rocky start, Hank stuck with it, studied the Rules, and became proficient in field mechanics. His game improved, and in 1986 he took on the “one year” job of assigning officials for colleges and clubs. Every game had to be assigned at least three times as fields were saturated, floods and mud slides prevailed, with people and teams stranded everywhere. He stayed the course based for another thirteen years as the district assignor of officials. In 1987, he was recognized as man of the year by the Northern California Lacrosse Association and awarded the President’s Cup. He received that award again in 2001.
In 1988, he expanded his publication for Northern California Men’s Officials from being a scheduling and logistics guide, to be the first comprehensive text on men’s lacrosse officiating. He was invited to referee the Division One Men’s North – South game in 1992. After the 1994 season, Hank received the first Frenchy Julien Award by the National Intercollegiate Lacrosse Officials’ Association, an award which is in the Lacrosse Hall Of Fame in Baltimore. He became a listed International Lacrosse Official and participated in the World Games in Manchester. Hank has conducted over one hundred clinics for officials and is still doing clinical training.
In 1995, he organized and led the reintroduction of lacrosse in Ireland with the first men’s lacrosse to be played in the Irish Republic, featuring the University of Notre Dame and Cornell University varsity teams. In 1998, he became the president of the Northern California chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation, which was in the transition of becoming the present chapter of US Lacrosse. He proposed a growth plan to significantly expand. The plan was adopted, and that growth started, and is accelerating today. Hank currently plays with the Navy Old Goats Grand Masters Team, officiates collegiate and high school games, conducts training clinics for officials, coaches introductory camps for youngsters in Santa Clara County, and serves on the board directors and executive committee of his chapter of US Lacrosse.
