Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 9/26/13
Staff Report
The lacrosse world is mourning the passing of lacrosse legend Avery Blake Jr., who was a four-time All-American at Swarthmore College.
Blake died Sept. 19 at his Northern California home.
Avery Blake played under his father, Avery Sr., also a Hall of Famer, at Swarthmore College, winning four straight Pennsylvania-Delaware League championships from 1950-53.
“Rarely does a person come along who makes such a significant impact to his sport and community,” Swarthmore athletic director Adam Hertz said in a news release. “Avery Blake was just such a person.
“Not only did he have a profound effect on Swarthmore College, but he worked tirelessly to promote the game near his California home, supporting any child who had an interest in developing as a lacrosse player.”
Avery scored goals in all but two games during his career and was the first lacrosse player from Pennsylvania – and only Swarthmore lacrosse player – to receive All-America honors in all four years.
As one of the nation’s elite lacrosse players during his time, Blake was enshrined into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1979, joining his father, who earned that honor in 1961. Last October during Garnet Homecoming and Family Weekend, Blake was one of 12 inductees selected to the inaugural class of the Garnet Athletics Hall of Fame.
Blake culminated his lacrosse career in 1953 as a co-captain of the North in the 1953 North-South Game.
After college, Blake served in the Navy. He played box, or indoor, lacrosse with the Swarthmore Indians for a decade before switching to field lacrosse with the Philadelphia Lacrosse Club for six years, Mayland Lacrosse Club for three years and the San Marino (Calif.) Lacrosse Club for three years.
Later in his life, Avery was instrumental in building youth lacrosse programs throughout California and most recently in Nevada county.
The Avery Blake Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established by Gold Country Lacrosse, dedicated to Avery’s goal of making sure that any child who wished to play the game, could. Information on that scholarship fund is available here.
