Michael "Mike" G. French (born May 13, 1953) is a former three-time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...

player at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1974 to 1976, teaming with fellow lacrosse Hall of Fame members Eamon McEneaney, Dan Mackesey, Bill Marino, Tom Marino, Bob Hendrickson, Chris Kane, and Richie Moran to lead the

Cornell Big Red The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports and other competitive teams that represent Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The university sponsors 37 varsity sports, and several intramural sports, intramural and club teams. Cornell ...

to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1976. French was co-owner, along with Russ Cline and Chris Fritz, as well as Executive Vice-President of the NLL's Philadelphia Wings.

Cornell Big Red

French is ranked in the top 20 all-time in College Lacrosse scoring with 296 career points, 4th in career points-per-game behind fellow Canadian Stan Cockerton, and 7th in career goals. French's top season was 1976 when he scored 65 goals and handed out 40 assists for 105 total points in 16 games. French and McEneaney led Cornell to one of the great seasons in college lacrosse history in 1976, with an unbeaten record and a 16-13 overtime victory over Frank Urso and 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, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in the NCAA Championship game. This was the first NCAA lacrosse championship to receive national exposure. With the game being decided in overtime and French scoring seven goals, Frank Gifford doing the play-by-play called the finals the most exciting sporting event he had ever seen. During French's career at Cornell, the Big Red went to three straight NCAA tournaments, shutting out Washington and Lee 14-0 in one tournament game, and won 43 games while losing only 4. He was named the USILA player of the year in 1976. French was also a member of the Sphinx Head society while at Cornell.

National Lacrosse League

French played for the

Eagle Pro Box 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. ...

Philadelphia Wings in 1987, leading the league in goals during its inaugural season. He was named the team's general manager in 1988, guiding the Wings to a 33-17 regular season mark and a 7-2 record in the postseason, with three championships over seven seasons. French also coached the Wings for one season in 1994, guiding them to a 6 and 2 record as well as the MILL title. He had been with the Wings since their inception in 1987 and joined the team's ownership group prior to the start of the 1998 season. French is currently part of the ownership group of the New England Black Wolves which took over the retired Wings franchise.

Canadian Lacrosse

Mike began playing box lacrosse in

Niagara-on-the-Lake Niagara-on-the-Lake is a town in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, across the river from New York (state), New York, United States. Niagara-on-the-Lake is in the R ...

and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and did not play field lacrosse until his freshman season at Cornell. French captained the Canadian National Team to the 1978

World Lacrosse Championships The World Lacrosse Men's Championship 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 ...

upset over a heavily favored U.S. National Team. The World championships have been won by the American team every year except 1978, 2006 and 2014. In the 1978 title game, the Canadian team rebounded from a 28-4 loss to the Americans in an early round game to beat them 17-16 in overtime for the World title.

Post playing career

French was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1991, the

Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame is a Canadian lacrosse hall of fame, located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The Hall was chartered in 1965 by the Canadian Lacrosse Association, and inducted its first class of hall of famers in ...

in 2001, and the NLL Hall of Fame in 2007. French is one of only a few members of both the Canadian and US Lacrosse Halls of Fame. French is currently one of three Partners for

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

LLP Hospitality & Leisure Advisory practice. French is also an investor in Baggataway Tavern, located in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Statistics

Cornell University

:^'' 11th in Division I career goals :^'' 4th in Division I career points-per-game ----

Philadelphia Wings

----

OLA/WLA/MSL statistics

:^'' Top Scorer In O.L.A. Junior B Western Division - 1971, 1972 :^'' Second All-Time in Career O.L.A. Junior B Regular Season Points

References

External links

NLL writeup

Wings bio

Sports Illustrated McEneaney-to-French article

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Mike 1953 births Living people Lacrosse forwards Canadian expatriate lacrosse people in the United States Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian lacrosse players Philadelphia Wings players Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse players 1976 in lacrosse National Lacrosse League owners