Master lacrosse stick maker Alfie Jacques, passes on tradition before he dies

Master lacrosse stick maker Alfie Jacques passed away in June at the age of 74.

Jacques, Turtle Clan from New York’s Onondaga Nation Reserve, learned to make lacrosse sticks at a young age from his father – also a master woodcarver.

Jacques had a few pupils who devoted themselves to the craft. Jack Johnson was one of them.

“It took me about six months for him to even talk to me,” said Johsnon, “I had to keep calling and going down and sort of proving to him that I really meant it. And then he finally said, ‘Okay,’ Johnson said of his desire to apprentice with Jacques.

Johnson, 44, of Mohawk Nation in Akwesasne, was apprenticed to Jacques for nearly a decade.

He said others had gone to Jacques to learn how to make sticks, but they fell through, and for a man in his seventies, Jacques’s time was a precious resource that should not be wasted.

Jacques was also a Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer who played professional lacrosse in the 1960s and 1970s.

“It was an honor to work with someone who loved the craft, loved the game, you know, loved the spirit of it,” Johnson said.

The wooden sticks Jacques made were cherished by the players who received them, such as Trav Hill.

Hill got his first wooden stick made by Jacques when he played for the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Nationals in 2014 at the World Lacrosse Championships in Denver, Colorado.

Hill said his traditional wooden stick is one of his most “prized possessions.”

“It’s up there, pretty parallel to, even winning the NLL championship to own a stick from Alfie. And I felt that way even when he was alive,” said Hill, who played in the National Lacrosse League with Rochester Knighthawks when they won. the NLL Champions Cup in 2012.

Pass on the craft

Johnson said traditional lacrosse sticks take about 10 months to make and that, like Jacques, he does everything himself.

“I cut down the trees. I break them down. I make the old gut walls, rawhide, string the sticks. I do everything from start to finish,” said Johnson.

Wooden sticks are made from shagbark hickory which must be cut, dried and cut into shafts.

These shafts are then dried for a month and steamed between each bending process. A metal form is used to form a shovel that becomes the bag and a second back bend just above the shovel, for the balance of the stick.

The sticks are dried again before being cut and sliced ​​to size, seasoned and ready to be covered with leather or rawhide.

Johnson said he makes about 20 sticks at a time, each at different stages of production.

“Making these lacrosse sticks is my medicine. Some days I’m not having a good day and I just go out and make a stick and then I go out, shoot around. It keeps your mind in a good place, Johnson said.

After Jacques fell ill, Johnson and friend Stephen Donovan started a GoFundMe page, raising more than $40,000 for Jacques and his family.

Johnson — who wants to continue teaching his craft and hopes to teach other Indigenous communities how to make the sticks — plans to work with Jacques’ family to finish the 100 to 150 sticks Jacques started. The rest of the proceeds go to the family.

He was encouraged by his mentor to have his own style when it comes to making traditional sticks.

“Don’t worry about the way I make them or the way other people make them,” Jacques told him. “Discover your own way.”

One of Johnson’s proudest moments was when Jacques checked his finished sticks and gave them a hallmark.

“You know you made it,” he said.

Former Akwesasne Thunder and Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Nationals goaltender Mike Thompson has strung his own lacrosse sticks since he was young, but learned to make wooden sticks from Johnson around 2012.

“Alfie helped me fine-tune my carving. Jack taught me the process,” said Thompson, “Alfie knew all the tricks.”

At the height of his business, Thompson was making about 35-50 sticks a year.

extension of itself

Thompson prefers using a wooden stick for stability, referring to contemporary lacrosse sticks as “tupperware.”

“The plastic sticks spin quite easily, especially on cement floors,” Thompson said.

For many Native lacrosse players, the connection to their wooden lacrosse stick is spiritual.

Johnson said the traditional wooden sticks should be taken care of. They cannot be left in the rain or in the heat and women are not allowed to touch them because Johnson has learned that a woman’s energy is “too powerful.”

Thompson got his first wooden stick from his wife who had Jacques put it in the car. “It’s like a living thing,” Thompson said.

For Hill, playing with a wooden stick feels like an extension of his body.

“When I received this one from Iroquois Nationals, it just felt natural to hold and use it,” he said.

“There was a connection that made you feel more confident when you held it.”