Introducing, The Inaugural
Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award
The Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award has been created to keep the legacy of the Onondaga Stickmaker alive, to promote the game’s sacred Indigenous roots, and to honor members of the larger community who share Alfie’s love of lacrosse and his commitment to its growth.
In Memory and In Honor Of
Alfie Jacques
We are reaching out to you to support a national initiative to honor the late Alfie Jacques, of the Turtle Clan, the Onondaga Nation, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Alfie was known as a world-class stickmaker. He was also a coach, speaker, educator, and Ambassador for lacrosse called the Medicine Game or Creator’s Game to Alfie’s peoples. Alfie loved lacrosse and he loved the people who played it, from all walks of life. He created a traveling roadshow with the different sticks from different regions, and he would speak to any audience about the rich history of the Creator’s Game. In a world where efforts are made to grow lacrosse at any cost, Alfie worked to grow the game slowly, steadily, and the right way. This meant growing the game in ways that held reverence for the heritage before commercialization. He cherished working with youth. The Native Vision program was a favorite for Alfie. He traveled across the country to this Indigenous youth sports and development camp that promoted cultural values and well-being on and off a sports field.
Stickmaker
For more than a half century Alfie crafted tens of thousands of wooden lacrosse sticks used by players around the world. He began making traditional wooden sticks with his father, Lou, in 1961. They didn’t have the money to buy sticks, so as Alfie explained countless times, “my father and I said what the heck, let’s make our own.” At the peak of wooden stick usage, Alfie and Lou made 12,000 sticks a year. The arrival of plastic sticks had a devastating effect on their business. But Alfie never quit. His stick making story is a story of perseverance and perpetuating Onondaga history and ceremony.
Educator
Like his father, Alfie loved to develop players. For eight years he was the coach and general manager of the Onondaga Redhawks. When plastic sticks had pushed Alfie out of business, he worked away from lacrosse but always wanted to get back in the game. In the early 2000’s, Alfie went to his first lacrosse convention. There he learned that there was no lack of interest in wooden sticks, but a lack of awareness. So he decided to again work full time in lacrosse. He made sticks, and he began to drive across the country, to any audience interested in hearing about the game’s heritage. In his latter years, Alfie was nearly as well-known for his ambassadorship as he was, for his sticks.
Award Details
Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award
The inaugural Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award will be given at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships in Utica, New York, September 20-29. The award will be given to someone who has displayed selfless dedication and energy in growing the game through an international competition. They must possess the passion that was inherent in Alfie’s mission and the Medicine Game. They will have used lacrosse to connect people in friendship and peace and, like Alfie, be true ambassadors of the game. The recipient can be from anywhere in the world. A college scholarship named for Alfie Jacques will also be given to a Native American youth who has demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, educational commitment, community service and citizenship. This scholarship will be run through Native Vision’s national competition.
Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award
Funding Goal
The award ceremony will include a dinner where Alfie’s closest family and respected current and past team members and coaches of the Haudenosaunee lacrosse team, friends and sponsors of the event will gather. All travel expenses for the award recipient and one additional family member will be covered. During halftime of the World Box Lacrosse Games Finals, the recipient will receive the award publicly, and a brief video celebrating Alfie, the meaning of the award, and the recipient’s noteworthy qualifications for the Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award and the Alfie Jacques Youth scholarship winner will be shown.This fundraiser is being supported by the American Indian Law Alliance. Their fiscal sponsor is the Indigenous Values Initiative.Donate by Mail
To send donations by check, please mail to:
American Indian Law Alliance
Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award
305 Vine St. Suite #3, Liverpool, NY 13088Checks should be addressed to our fiscal sponsor the Indigenous Values Initiative.
In honor and in memory of
Alfie Jacques
Please give generously to support this award.
Thank you for supporting
The Alfie Jacques Ambassador Award
As a proud citizen of the Onondaga Nation Turtle Clan, Alfie understood that lacrosse is more than a game. It is medicine. Wherever he went he taught people about the importance of the living wooden stick and reminded us that there are some things you can never get from a piece of plastic and carbon fiber. Thank you for helping to support and carry this legacy forward.
