Gary Charles Gait (born April 5, 1967) is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

player and currently the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, where he played the sport collegiately. On January 24, 2017, he was named the Interim Commissioner of the United Women's Lacrosse League. He played collegiately for the

Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse The Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse team represents Syracuse University in NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse. The Orange have won 15 national championship titles, and currently compete as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacro ...

team and professionally in the indoor

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

and the outdoor MLL, while representing

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

at the international level. Gait has been inducted into the United States Lacrosse National Hall of Fame and the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame. He was a four-time All-American for the

team from 1987-90 (including first-team honors from 1988 to 1990), and was on three

NCAA championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

-winning teams. He twice won the

Lt. Raymond Enners Award The Lt. Raymond Enners Award is an award given annually to the NCAA's most outstanding player in men's college lacrosse. The award is presented by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and is named after 1st Lt. Raymond ...

, given to the most outstanding college lacrosse player, in 1988 and 1990. Gait holds the Syracuse career goals record at 192 and the single-season goals record at 70, an NCAA record until 2008. In 1997, the NCAA Lacrosse Committee named Gait, along with his twin brother and Syracuse teammate,

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, to the 25th Anniversary Lacrosse team. He played in the NLL for 17 years, winning Rookie of the Year in 1991, earning league MVP honors for five straight years, from 1995 to '99 and winning All-Pro honors each season. Gait led the league in points and goals seven times, won three league championships and finished his indoor career with 1,091 points, a league record at the time. Gait also played five seasons in MLL from 2001 to 2005, winning the league title three times and co-MVP honors in 2005. He helped Canada win the

2006 World Lacrosse Championship 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, the country's first world championship since 1978, by scoring four goals in the final against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

College career

Gary Gait and his twin brother Paul played lacrosse for the

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is Ott ...

from 1987 to 1990, where they set numerous records during their time there. Gait was named an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n by the

USILA The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the vars ...

four times — three times as a First Team selection and once as an Honorable Mention. Gary graduated as Syracuse University's all-time goal leader with 192 career goals. He led the Orange to three NCAA DI Championships and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1988 and 1990 and the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament in 1990. The Gait twins are also widely known for popularizing innovative plays such as behind-the-back passes and shots and the "Air Gait," an acrobatic scoring move where they would jump from behind the goal crease and score a goal in mid-air by dunking the ball over the top goal crossbar and land on the opposite side of the crease. This move was later banned in NCAA play.

NLL career

Detroit (1991–92)

Gait started playing in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League (later the

) in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

. He was drafted by the Detroit Turbos who got both Gait brothers in a slightly controversial double-pick. In this season he won the MILL championship and was given the

Rookie of the Year Award A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

. He played with Detroit for one more season before him and his brother were both traded to the Philadelphia Wings in 1993. This trade was highly controversial as the Wings traded all of their draft picks to Detroit for the two players.

Philadelphia (1993–97)

Gait played five seasons on the Philadelphia Wings. Gait visited the championship his first four years on the Wings and won the title twice (1994 & 1995). He was voted league MVP in 1996 and 1997 and was crowned Championship MVP in 1995. Gait spent more time with the Wings than any other single NLL/MILL team and is where he is most remembered for playing. In 1995 Gary's brother Paul was traded to Rochester, separating the brothers until they played together on the Washington Power in 2001. Gary was traded to Baltimore for the 1998 season so he could play closer to his home.

Baltimore Thunder (1998–99)

Gait only played two seasons with the Baltimore Thunder. In Gait's first year on the team they went to the Championship which was a new best-of-3 style series. They were defeated two games to zero by his former Philadelphia Wings. Gait was still voted league MVP for the 1998 season for how much he helped Baltimore improve. In 1999, Baltimore went 8-4 in the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Rochester Knighthwaks. The Baltimore Thunder re-located to become the Pittsburgh CrosseFire in 2000 and so Gary moved with the franchise.

Pittsburgh CrosseFire (2000)

In Pittsburgh's only season, they went 6-6 and missed the playoffs. This was the first time in Gait's NLL/MILL career that he missed the playoffs, he would only miss 3 times in his entire 18-season career. After a not-so-good first season the CrosseFire re-located to Washington, D.C. where they became the Washington Power.

Washington Power (2001-02)

In the two seasons the Washington Power existed, they made it to the playoffs. Gary was there for both of these season and so was his brother Paul, re-uniting them for the first time since 1994 when the both played in Philadelphia. In 2001, Washington lost in a semi-final game to Toronto with a final score of 10 to 9. In 2002, Washington beat Philadelphia in the quarter-finals 10–11 before having a rematch with Toronto in the semi-final where the Power was defeated 11–12. The Washington Power faced low attendance and as such re-located to Colorado where they became the Colorado Mammoth. As with the Thunder and CrosseFire, Gait moved along with the franchise as it re-located once again.

Colorado Mammoth (2003–05)

Gait played with the Colorado Mammoth for three seasons. In his first game of the 2006 season, Gary was honored by the Mammoth. On December 30, 2005, at the Pepsi Center in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the

Colorado Mammoth The Colorado Mammoth are a box lacrosse team playing in the National Lacrosse League. The Mammoth have played at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, since the 2003 season. They are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the owner of the Colorado Avalan ...

raised his jersey number (22) to the rafters, making him the second player in NLL history to have his number retired, after Buffalo's Darris Kilgour. They went to the playoffs all three seasons but never advanced to the championship. Gait announced his retirement following the 2005 season. He was then voted into the NLL Hall of Fame along with his brother, Paul. After retiring he became head coach of the Mammoth for 2006 & 2007, but he stepped down as head coach in August 2007 so he could pursue other interests.

Rochester Knighthawks (2009–11)

Gait returned to the NLL in 2009 when he joined the Rochester Knighthawks. During the 2009 season, Gary was named a reserve to the

All-Star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

. 2009 would also mark the last time Gary would visit the NLL playoffs as the Knighthawks missed the playoffs in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Following the 2011 season, Gary announced he was retiring from NLL play for good to pursue a career of lacrosse coaching. Gary Gait had one of the most spectacular NLL careers of any player in league history. He has the second most career goals of any player with 635 and the highest goals per game average in league history with 3.207 goals per game. Gary is also tied with his brother for the most goals in one single game, 10. He had his number retired by Colorado and he is a member of the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame.

MLL career

Gait played in

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...

since its inception in 2001. He was a member of the

Long Island Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...

. After the first season, Gait was traded to the

Baltimore Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland since 2010. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Balti ...

where he served as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the next four years. In 2005, Gait won the Steinfeld Cup as a player-coach. He scored six goals in the Championship Game and was named MVP of that game as well as the season. Gait initially retired from MLL play in 2005 but returned and signed with the Hamilton Nationals for their inaugural season in 2009.

WLA career

Gait, along with his brother, had outstanding seasons with the

Victoria Shamrocks The Victoria Shamrocks are a Senior A box lacrosse team, based in Victoria, British Columbia. The team competes in the 7-team Western Lacrosse Association (WLA). The Shamrocks entered the former Inter-City Lacrosse League, which is now the WLA, ...

of the Western Lacrosse Association. Gait won the

Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy The Mike Kelley Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player of the Mann Cup competition. The trophy is named after Michael Edward Francis "Mike" Kelley who was the owner and manager of the Hamilton Tigers lacrosse club in the ea ...

as most valuable player of the

Mann Cup The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's box lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship is a best-of-seven, East vs West series played between the league champions of Major Series Lacrosse, the East, and Western Lacrosse Associa ...

as a Shamrock in 1997, and shared the most valuable player award with his brother Paul in 1999.

Coaching career

In June 2005, Gait was named head coach of his former NLL team, the

. After a 10-6 season in which the Mammoth finished second in the Western Division, Gait led them to an overtime 18-17 win over

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

and a 13-12 win over

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

before shutting down the East Division champion

Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are a professional box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more po ...

16-9 in the Championship game. Gait became the first rookie head coach to win a championship since Tony Resch did it with the

Philadelphia Wings Philadelphia Wings may refer to any of three distinct professional lacrosse teams: * Philadelphia Wings (1974–1975), a member of the original National Lacrosse League * Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014), a founding member of the National Lacrosse ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, a team on which Gait played. In August 2007, Gait stepped down after two seasons as head coach of the Mammoth and returned to his alma mater

, becoming the second head coach in the history of the women's lacrosse program. Prior to this position, Gait had served as an assistant coach for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

women's team for nine seasons. On February 3, 2011, Gait was announced as a new assistant coach for the Hamilton Nationals of

. On June 6, 2021, Gait was named as head coach of the Syracuse Men's Lacrosse team, replacing

John Desko John Terry Desko is a retired lacrosse head coach. Desko coached the men's lacrosse team at Syracuse University for 22 seasons from 1999 to 2021. Desko took over as head coach in 1999 from Hall of Fame coach Roy Simmons Jr. Early life The Des ...

International lacrosse career

Gait was a member of the Canadian National Team in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2004, and 2006. In that final year, he led Team Canada to a historic 15-10 victory over the

in the

, his last ever international game. Gait scored four goals in the final quarter, marking a fairytale finish to his international playing career as the World title gave him every possible major lacrosse title (three NCAA championships at Syracuse in 1988, 1989, 1990; three NLL titles in 1991, 1994, 1995; three MLL titles in 2001, 2002, 2005; three Mann Cups in 1991, 1997, 1999; the Heritage Cup in 2004; and the International Lacrosse Federation World Championship in 2006).

Results of international play

* 1990 – Finalist in the

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as ...

* 1994 – Third place at the

* 1998 – Finalist in the

* 2002 – Finalist in the Heritage Cup * 2004 – Winner of the Heritage Cup *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

– Winner of the

Club lacrosse career

Gait also played amateur lacrosse for the storied

Mount Washington Lacrosse Club The Mount Washington Lacrosse Club is an amateur field lacrosse club based in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the most successful and well-known lacrosse clubs in history, at one point it dominated the sport at both the collegiate and club level. Th ...

in the 1990s.

Statistics

NLL

Reference:

Syracuse University

:^''(a)'' 5th in NCAA single-season goals :^''(b)'' 6th in NCAA career goals

Records and awards

Gait set many NLL scoring records during his career. Gait was named

NLL MVP The National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player Award is given annually to the NLL player who is considered to have contributed most to his team's success. The award winners are chosen by a vote of the league's coaches, general managers, and exec ...

six times, including five consecutive seasons. Other than Gary Gait, only John Tavares (3 times) has ever won the award more than once. He was also given the NLL Sportsmanship Award twice, in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

(tie with Peter Lough) and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

. NLL Weekly and Monthly Awards: * Player of the Week (1994–2001) – 7 times * Overall Player of the Week (2002–''present'') – 6 times * Offensive Player of the Week (2002–''present'') – 3 times * Player of the Month – 6 times Gait was named the

MLL MVP Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a professional men's field lacrosse league consisting of nine teams in the United States. Since the league's first season in 2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed ...

his final season in

, sharing it with

Mark Millon Mark Millon (born May 17, 1971) is a retired American lacrosse player who last played for the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse. He attended Harborfields Highschool in Huntington, Long Island. He played collegiate lacrosse at the Univers ...

. That season he also led the league in goals and points with 42 goals and 21 assists for 63 points. MLL Weekly Awards: * Offensive Player of the Week – 2 times Gary along with his twin brother Paul Gait were inducted into their home province's highest honour in 2011. The

BC Sports Hall of Fame The BC Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in BC Place Stadium, at Gate A, the main entrance to the stadium, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It collects, preserves, studies and interprets materials that relate to British Columbia's spo ...

will place the legendary brothers into its Hall on September 13, 2011, in a ceremony in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame

On June 18, 2022, Gary Gait was inducted into the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame as one of the eleven members of the inaugural class of inductees.

Personal life

Gait lives in Fayetteville, New York with his wife, Nicole, and their two children, Braedon and Taylor, who also played college lacrosse. Braedon played at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. Taylor played under Gary at Syracuse from 2013-19.

References

External links

Syracuse profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gait, Gary 1967 births Living people Canadian lacrosse players Colorado Mammoth players Lacrosse people from British Columbia Major League Lacrosse coaches Major League Lacrosse major award winners Major League Lacrosse players Maryland Terrapins women's lacrosse coaches Mount Washington Lacrosse Club players National Lacrosse League All-Stars National Lacrosse League coaches National Lacrosse League major award winners Philadelphia Wings players Player-coaches Rochester Knighthawks players Sportspeople from Victoria, British Columbia Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse players Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse coaches Syracuse Orange women's lacrosse coaches Hamilton Nationals players Canadian twins Twin sportspeople Chesapeake Bayhawks coaches