A.J. Haugen credits his father, Andy, for lighting the spark that started his lacrosse journey. The elder Haugen, a former Adelphi lacrosse player in the mid-1970s, never once pressured his son to play lacrosse.

But when Haugen decided on playing his father’s sport when he entered the fourth grade, his father volunteered as a coach in their hometown of Bethpage, N.Y.

A.J. Haugen said he’s never had a better mentor and coach.

“I’ve had a lot of great coaches, but he’s the best,” Haugen said. “Nothing was ever forced on me. It was never ‘You have to do this and you have to do that.’ His approach just made it always a positive approach, even if I didn’t play well. He was a great player, so he was able to show me the stuff that worked for him.”

Whatever the method, it worked. Haugen starred alongside more than a handful of heralded recruits at Bethpage, then became a three-time All-American on the Johns Hopkins midfield before becoming one of the first stars of Major League Lacrosse and then playing with Team USA.

Haugen’s lacrosse journey started with his father on Long Island, and it will reach its peak at Hunt Valley, Md. this weekend, when he’s recognized as part of the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

Haugen, who grew up idolizing the Gait brothers, will now join them in lacrosse’s most exclusive club.

“Every step of the way — [the goal] was in high school to make a couple of the Empire State teams and win a county championship,” Haugen said. “In college, it was to win a national championship. In the MLL, to win a championship there. [The Hall of Fame] is not something you’re really thinking about, but then when I heard I was being considered and you start to think about it a little, this is as high as it gets. To think that you are considered among the greats to ever play, it’s tough to think about right now.”

Haugen’s initial season at Johns Hopkins in 1997 didn’t look like he was headed towards a Hall of Fame career. He struggled through that first season — one of the only regrets in his lacrosse career — finishing with just eight goals and five assists.

But he worked hard in the summer of 1997 to improve his game and bulk up, kickstarting a remarkable three-year run with the Blue Jays. His speed and ability to shoot with both hands helped him become a three-time first team All-American — one of just four Blue Jays middies to accomplish the feat.

A natural righty, he worked tirelessly to develop a left-handed shot.

"I put in as much work as anybody in this. This is what I loved to do and I just wanted to get better at it." - former @jhumenslacrosse All-American and @USAMLax star A.J. Haugen as he gets ready to go into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. https://t.co/LPO56Q9Dcx pic.twitter.com/0G3SUNipvC

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) September 26, 2018

“It got to the point where I used my left so much, I almost became a lefty, because I was so comfortable going to my left hand,” he said. “It was just a matter of dedicating myself to ‘Hey, these are the shots I’m going to get in the game and this is what I have to work on.’”

He finished his Hopkins career with 85 goals and 23 assists — at the time, third in school history for goals scored by a pure middie. He graduated in 2000 and entered straight into the newly founded Major League Lacrosse, helping the Long Island Lizards to two league championships.

But what he may take the most pride from was his time with the 2006 U.S. national team. Already a gold medalist on the 1996 U19 U.S. team, Haugen set out to make the senior team.

Meanwhile, his father was fighting multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that causes cancer cells to develop in the bone marrow. While Andy Haugen received treatment, his son went through the U.S. tryout in the heat of the summer.

Nothing in his lacrosse career gave A.J. Haugen more pride than telling his father he’d made the 2006 team.

“I wanted to make that team for him,” he said. “To go into that hospital room and to let him know that it happened was absolutely incredible. You set goals, but that was one thing I really wanted to do for him because I know how much it meant to him to see me play on that team.”

And he brought more good news to his father earlier this year — he made it into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He’s still making his father proud, years after his playing career ended.