The Tewaaraton Foundation announced Friday the 2018 Tewaaraton Legends and Spirit honorees. The 12th Spirit of Tewaaraton recipient is former Boston College lacrosse player and 9/11 hero Welles Crowther, and the 2018 Tewaaraton Legends are former Temple star Mandee Moore O’Leary and former Johns Hopkins star Larry Quinn.
The Spirit of Tewaaraton is presented to an individual who has contributed to the sport of lacrosse in a way that reflects the spirit of the values and mission of the Tewaaraton Award. The Tewaaraton Legends Award annually honors recipients who played college lacrosse prior to 2001, the first year in which the Tewaaraton Award was presented.
Known as “The Man in the Red Bandanna” for his heroic efforts during the attack on the World Trade Center, Crowther was a member of Boston College’s varsity lacrosse team until he graduated with an economics degree in 1999. He became an equities trader for Sandler O’Neill & Partners on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Crowther was able to make it to safety in the World Trade Center but he decided to go back to help others in danger – and by all accounts saved up to 12 people’s lives. A full member of Empire Hook & Ladder Co., No. 1 in his hometown of Upper Nyack, NY at age 18, Crowther had been considering leaving his Wall Street job to become a New York City firefighter. His body was found in an area of the World Trade Center alongside firefighters’ remains, and he was named in 2006 an honorary New York City firefighter for his selfless efforts during the 9/11 attacks.
“Strength, courage and honor embody the red bandanna, but before the red bandanna there was Welles, the college student, lacrosse player, roommate and friend,” said two-time U.S. Olympian Tyler Jewell, a teammate of Welles at BC. “That Welles was also selfless and caring. On the day I turned 21, Welles offered to drive nearly half our lacrosse team in the oversized van passed down to him from his father to my parents’ house to celebrate my birthday. After the party Welles ensured everyone returned back to school safely, always embodying his mantra, ‘There is no “I” in team.’”
Said Timothy Curry, another BC teammate and Tewaaraton Foundation Board Member: “Tyler’s birthday was one of the many examples of Welles embracing the Boston College motto of ‘Men and Women for Others’. It was something that I and many others at Boston College and Nyack knew about Welles. On September 11th through his heroic actions many others came to know this as well and it is this devotion to others that most embodies his legacy and embraces the Spirit of Tewaaraton.”
Regarded as one of the best goalies of all-time, Larry Quinn won two national championships at Johns Hopkins, going 27-1 in this final two seasons, both years earning the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Award as the nation’s top goalie and the Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as Most Outstanding Player. A current assistant coach at JHU, he remains the storied program’s only two-time Enners winner. He was inducted into the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame in 2000.
Quinn was at his best when the pressure was on: he posted a .645 save percentage and a 7.2 goals against average during his career in the NCAA Tournament. More than 30 years after graduating, this member of the William C. Schmeisser All-Time Johns Hopkins team and member of the NCAA’s Silver Anniversary Team in 1995 still holds Johns Hopkins’ single-season (.708) and career (.673) save percentage records.
“I have known Larry Quinn almost since the day he was born, as his parents and mine were best of friends and we lived right around the corner from one another,” said seven-time NCAA champion head coach Bill Tierney of the University of Denver. “As our lives progressed, I was his elementary school gym teacher, he and his brother Robert were altar boys in my wedding, I was his high school lacrosse coach, and finally his assistant coach at Johns Hopkins when he led us to the 1985 NCAA Championship. We only had one goalie on our high school team, so when we scrimmaged, he would run end to end to be the goalie for both teams. In college he proved he was the best in the game by being named Goalie of the Year two times in a row. Then winning three world championships with Team USA solidified his ranking as the best in the world. I will forever be indebted to Larry for being a successful spokesman for me when Don Zimmerman was looking for an assistant in 1984 at Hopkins, launching my coaching career. His loyalty to me has lasted over many years and our friendship lives on to this day.”
O’Leary was a four-year starter for Temple’s lacrosse and field hockey teams, twice earning All-America honors in both sports. A two-time Midfielder of the Year and NCAA All-Tournament Team selection (1987-88), O’Leary led Temple to a perfect (19-0) national championship in 1988, being named Lacrosse Magazine’s Player of the Year in the process.
A 2005 inductee to the US Lacrosse National Hall of Fame, O’Leary was also inducted into the Temple Owls’ Hall of Fame in 2004 and named to the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse 25th Anniversary Team in 2006. Now in her ninth season as Florida’s head coach, she spent 14 years as Yale’s head coach and also won two gold medals with Team USA.
“Mandee is if not the best, one of the best athletes that has ever played the game,” said former Temple coach Tina Sloan Green. “Not only could she attack, score and defend, she was a smart, effective leader on and off the field. Well-deserved."
Tewaaraton Legend recipients are chosen on the basis that their collegiate performance would have earned them a Tewaaraton Trophy, had the award existed when they played. The previous Legends Award winners are Syracuse’s Jim Brown (2011), Cornell’s Eamon McEneaney (2012), Johns Hopkins’ Joe Cowan (2013), Navy’s Jimmy Lewis (2014), Syracuse’s Brad Kotz (2015), Maryland’s Frank Urso (2016), Penn State’s Candace Finn Rocha (2016), Army’s Peter Cramblet (2017) and Virginia’s Cherie Greer (2017).
Past Spirit of Tewaaraton recipients include Dick Edell, Diane Geppi-Aikens, Sid Jamieson, A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard, Roy Simmons Jr., Richie Moran, Bob Scott, Brendan Looney, Oren Lyons, Tina Sloan Green and George Boiardi.
All three recipients will receive their awards at the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony May 31st, 2018, in Washington, D.C.