Miro "Medo" Martinello (born December 6, 1935) is a Canadian former 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 the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...

player, coach, and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

referee, born in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

, Canada of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. He is a member of the Windsor and Essex County Sports Hall of Fame, Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of the Canadian Government 125th Anniversary of Confederation Medal "for outstanding Achievements on behalf of Canada".

Biography

Martinello was born in

on December 6, 1935. He played

from the age of 12, playing in the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League with Windsor Joe's Cement in his later teens. He played in the OLA Senior B Lacrosse League in the 1960s and 1970s winning the OLA Sr. B title in 1961 with the Leamington Clippers and later the 1970 and 1971 Canadian National Championship

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

with the

Windsor Clippers The Windsor Clippers is a Canadian junior box lacrosse team and members of the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League of the Ontario Lacrosse Association. The team, from Windsor, Ontario, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, was known as the Windsor AKO Fratmen f ...

and Windsor Warlocks. In 1962, Medo played for the Brampton Ramblers of the OLA Sr. A League, then the highest level of the sport in the world. In 1968, he had an 8-game stint with the newly formed professional

Detroit Olympics The Detroit Olympics were a minor league hockey team located in Detroit, Michigan that was a member of the Canadian Professional Hockey League 1927–29 and the International Hockey League 1929–36. The team played all of their home games at t ...

of the

National Lacrosse Association The National Lacrosse Association was a professional box lacrosse league that operated in 1968–1969 with teams from both the United States and Canada. Due to poor attendance, the league folded in March 1969. After the folding, two teams (t ...

, again, then the highest level for the sport in its era. In hockey, Medo played his

junior hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from t ...

with the Blenheim Blades of the Border Cities Junior B Hockey League before becoming a referee. From 1953 to 1955, Martinello was a minor hockey referee. From 1956 until 1960, he reffed Junior B and C in the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

. In the 1960s, Martinello reffed in the elite-amateur OHA Senior A Hockey League and professional International Hockey League. From 1970 until 1989, Medo reffed all levels of Junior hockey, from A down to C, for the OHA. In 1972, Medo became the first Canadian to referee an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Final, the game was between

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

and

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

. Medo often was chosen to ref international games between NCAA and IHL teams and the likes of Russia and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and also helped to create the 2-referee system in the NCAA in the 1970s, since followed by most major leagues. As a coach, Martinello led the Windsor Warlocks Jr. C Lacrosse team to OLA and Eastern Canadian titles in 1972 and 1973. He led the 1975

Quebec Caribous The Quebec Caribous (or Les Caribous), were a member of the National Lacrosse League (1974–75), National Lacrosse League. The franchise was originally the Syracuse Stingers, who were founded in 1974 with the creation of the league. They played ...

of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

to a professional championship. From 1989 until 1992, Medo coached the Detroit Turbos of the

Major Indoor Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

winning the 1991 league championship. In 1992, Martinello was honoured by the Canadian Government with the 125th Anniversary of Confederation Medal "for outstanding Achievements on behalf of Canada". On November 13, 2001, Medo was inducted into the Windsor and Essex County Sports Hall of Fame as a Founder. He was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2005.

Player statistics

Coaching Record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinello, Medo 1935 births Living people Canadian ice hockey officials Canadian lacrosse players Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent National Lacrosse League coaches Sportspeople from Windsor, Ontario