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Clevely / Coyle inducted to Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame

November 17, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

In the lacrosse world, Bob Clevely and Pat Coyle are two well known people who have made significant contributions to the sport.

Both men are being inducted to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame for their dedication and contribution to lacrosse in Canada.

Bob Clevely, current General Manager of the Orangeville Junior A Northmen got his start in lacrosse as a Junior A player in Brampton before making a move to Orangeville 35 years ago.

When he arrived in Orangeville there was no Junior program and he, along with Terry Sanderson, worked together to get a Junior program started in the town.

Junior level players at the time were going to other centres to play.

“Terry and I started the Junior

program in 1989,” Mr. Clevely explained. “It had been out of commission for four or five years at that time. There were Junior players but they were all playing somewhere else. We had to go to the League and make a presentation. We had to build an executive and make sure we had enough players.”

The League takes many things into consideration before granting a franchise and they felt the presentations was worthy of creating the new Orangeville Junior B Northmen.

The Club had immediate success that same year going the distance and winning the national Founders Cup in their first season. They followed up with a second championship cup the following year.

Mr. Clevely decided to move the team up to the ‘A’ level and served as president or GM from 1991 – 96 and again from 2007 to 2012.

The Junior A team went to the Minto Cup a total of nine times winning six times between 1993 and 2012.

Mr. Clevely has been a part of 16 Ontario, 13 Canadian, and two world championship teams over the years along with on National Lacrosse League championship with the Toronto Rock.

He is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in the Builder Category.

Pat Coyle, a former Orangeville resident who now resides in British Columbia is being inducted to the Hall of Fame in the Player category.

Coyle has been described as a standout defensive player and is a seven-time Western Lacrosse Association All-star, five-time WLA Top Defensive Player, a winner of the WLA’s Bill Ellison Trohpy as playoff MVP, and a three-time Mann Cup winner.

Mr. Coyle played Junior Lacrosse in Orangeville and Brampton. From 1991 to 1993 he was with the Senior A Brampton Excelsiors winning Mann Cups in 1992 and 1993.

From 1994 to 2005 he played  with the Coquitlam Adanacs winning the Mann Cup in 2001.

       He played 11 season in the National Lacrosse League winning five championship titles with the Toronto rock and Colorado Mammoth and was named to the NLL Hall of Fame in 2014.

Also inducted to the Hall of Fame this year are players, Ken Colley, Clinton “Jan” Magee, Rick Mang, veteran Don Craggs, builder Jim Cain, and the 1986, 87, and 89 Peterborough Maulers team who were undefeated over two regular seasons.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place in New Westminster, British Columbia on Saturday, November 11, at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

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