Temple’s Cummings-Danson makes Canadian Hall of Fame

Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 11/7/08

Former Temple great Gail Cummings-Danson, now the Skidmore College athletic director, will be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Saturday at the Firefighter’s Club in Burnabay, B.C.

The honor marks the second national lacrosse hall of fame induction for Cummings-Danson, who was selected to the U.S. National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2007.

Cummings-Danson became the top goal scorer in women’s lacrosse history as an Owl with 289 goals, including 93 in 1988 when, as the captain, she led Temple to a perfect 19-0 record and the NCAA championship.

That year she was the Most Valuable Player in the NCAA Tournament. She earned All-American honors in 1986, 1987 and 1988 and led the Owls to the Final Four all four years. Cummings-Danson played for the Canadian national team from 1982 to 1989 and then helped the U.S. win the World Cup in 1993.

“It is unimaginable to think about being inducted into two very prestigious Halls of Fame,” Cummings-Danson said shortly after the induction ceremony. “These are events that you never think about when you play team sports.

“I was always very fortunate to have great teammates, who without them, I would never have had the career that I did. The US Lacrosse Hall of Fame has some of the best players in the world so I am humbled by the very thought that my name is there.

“Lacrosse is Canada’s national sport so I feel privileged to have contributed to the legacy of lacrosse in Canada. The fact that the ceremonies were held exactly a year apart is crazy. I am a firm believer that individuals who play team sports only shine with outstanding coaches and terrific teammates. I simply could not have accomplished this on my own.”

Cummings-Danson, a native of Huntsvile, Ontario, took over the athletic program at Skidmore – located in Sarasota, N.Y. – in June of 2005. She previously coached lacrosse at Connecticut College, Temple, and the University at Albany. She has been inducted into the Temple University Hall of Fame and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

This year’s class includes nine new members and one team. In addition to Cummings-Danson, the individual inductees are builders Bill McBaine and Robert Stuart Vesey; box lacrosse players Todd Lorenz, Larry Bell, John Grant Sr., and Gary Moore; veteran players Ross N. McDonald and Alan Frick, and the 1994-96 Six Nations Chief Lacrosse squad in the team category.