the football off-season. It wasn’t long before John became fully invested in boy’s/men’s lacrosse.
In 2005, John moved his family to San Diego to be closer to his wife’s family on Point Loma after the birth of their son John, Jr. John immediately joined both the SDCFOA and SDCLOA where he continued to officiate football for the next five years, which included a high school championship game assignment at Qualcomm Stadium in 2009. When John moved to California he had already been officiating Division 1, 2, and 3 collegiate lacrosse for five years.
While living in California John has continued to receive Division 1 assignments; he’s worked two MCLA national championships, ten CIF-SDS championship games, and was referee for the World Series of Youth Lacrosse at Denver’s Mile Stadium in 2018. He also spent six years as a professional lacrosse official in both the NLL and LXM Pro circuit. John recently was named as a roster official for the new Premiere Lacrosse League that had its inaugural year in 2019.
John has been training lacrosse officials since 2000. His first year in San Diego he provided training demonstrations and by year two was the lead instructor for the first-year candidate program. For the past ten years John has been the training chair for the SDCLOA and has served four terms as its president. John is a certified observer/evaluator for U.S. Lacrosse and travels to summertime tournament destinations throughout the U.S. where he provides instructions to up-and-coming officials on how to better their game.
John would like to thank everyone that supported and pushed him in his journey. Great thanks to Roy Condon, John Hill, Jim Carboneau and Darrell Benson in Eastern Mass who helped shape his lacrosse officiating abilities. He’d like to also thank Bob Duggan, who furthered John’s career along on the West Coast and nominated John for this induction. Thank you to Lee Bjornson for his sponsorship of John to this august membership. But most of all he wishes to thank all his lacrosse officiating brothers for the great journey this has been. John has always said “Lacrosse is a village.” Without his fellow villagers this membership would not be possible.
