CLASS OF 2019
Our Class of 1960’s inductees recognize those men who were the primary contributors to the birth of the Arizona Lacrosse program, and without whom the program would likely not exist in its current state. All of them were known to have excelled on the field, and it is their on-field talent, coupled with their contribution to the team’s origin that adds to their legacy as Hall of Famers. We hope to add more 1960’s inductees in the coming years as we continue to learn more about this very special group of men.
Our two inductees from the 1970’s are performance-based inductees as the program continued to develop from its inception.
HONOREES
Carl Runk (Head Coach: 1962, 1965-1967) is a lifetime coach and leader who started his Hall of Fame lacrosse career at the University of Arizona. In high school, he was a three-sport athlete excelling in football, wrestling, and lacrosse. He subsequently chose to play football collegiately at the University of Arizona. Runk’s football coach described him as one of the hardest working and toughest players on the team. While on a walk around campus one day with his wife, Carl saw a group of men tossing a lacrosse ball. After expressing an interest and knowledge of the game, the men told him they were trying to start a team but needed a coach. Runk was offered the job and accepted the opportunity and the challenge. Gaining club status in 1961, he coached the inaugural season (1962) before stepping aside to work on his Master’s Degree and teach at Amphitheater High School. His return to the Wildcats came in 1965, a year after they earned varsity status as the first Western university to raise lacrosse to intercollegiate recognition. Runk would spend three more years at Arizona, finishing with a 32-13 record, a .711 winning percentage, and a conference championship. He headed back home to Maryland in 1967 where he was named the fifth Head Coach in Towson University history. Over his 31 seasons as Towson’s Head Coach, he guided the Tigers to 24 winning seasons, 13 NCAA Tournament berths, 6 East Coast Conference titles, and a National Championship in 1974. He was inducted into the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coach Association Hall of Fame in 2018.
Today Carl lives in Parkton, MD with his wife of 60 years, Joan. He has 4 children and 11 grandchildren.
WATCH CARL RUNK'S HALL OF FAME ACCEPTANCE VIDEO
Don Golos (1962-1964, Original Three, Founder, Attack, Assistant Coach) is recognized alongside Jay Lehr and Chuck McChesney, as the ‘Original Three’ of UofA lacrosse. It was these three men that were the catalyst for the creation of the lacrosse program at Arizona. Golos was raised in Geneva, New York, picking up a stick at the age of eight. In high school, Don was a multi-sport athlete, playing basketball and running cross country. After learning skills with friends, he enrolled in Cornell University and played for their varsity team. His coach characterized the starting attackman in 1955 as one of the most aggressive in the sport and ‘made of unbreakable stuff’. After completing his studies and career with Big Red Lacrosse, Golos served for three years with the United States Marine Corps, and eventually moved to Tucson for a professional opportunity. Seeing men tossing a lacrosse ball on campus, he joined in the effort to locate others at the University of Arizona with significant lacrosse experience. Don was a major contributor in getting club status recognition for the team in 1961, making Arizona the 21st state to field a collegiate lacrosse team. His participation was equally valuable in achieving varsity status 3 years later in 1964. From 1960 to 1964, Golos served as a founder, player, coach and team leader. After stepping away from the program in 1964, his leadership would again be needed in 1969. Don stepped back in to save the team from disbanding by helping with organization, fundraising and team promotion. Don would reside in Tucson for the rest of his life, working in commercial real estate and maintaining involvement as the team’s patriarch until his death in December of 2017.
Don is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Vanessa, his children, Rex and Molly and 1 granddaughter, Rayna.
Jay Lehr (1962-1964, Original Three, Founder, Goalie, Head Coach) is another player/coach to dedicate himself to the growth of lacrosse at the University of Arizona. In 1978, he was recognized by Newsweek Magazine as the Father of Western Lacrosse for his work at Arizona. Lehr was born in Teaneck, New Jersey and attended preparatory school in Connecticut, making Princeton his college choice. Having no experience with lacrosse, but fascinated with it, he chose to try out for goalie at Princeton. By the time Lehr graduated Princeton in 1957, he was the varsity lacrosse goalie, First-Team All-Ivy and Honorable Mention All-American.Upon graduation Lehr received a commission in the Navy, spending two years on active duty before showing up in Tucson to pursue his Ph.D. in Hydrology. As one of the men observed by Don Golos tossing a lacrosse ball, Lehr was engaged from the start with the challenge of generating more interest in the sport. Like Golos, Lehr shared a passion for the game and possessed what seemed like unbounded energy, which continues to this day. Lehr worked tirelessly along with Golos and others to gain club and then varsity recognition for lacrosse at Arizona. In 1964, he agreed to give up his position in the goal to focus on coaching. News of varsity status spread quickly and Lehr oversaw the growth of a team from 17 players in 1963 to over 40 in 1964. Arizona had a very respectable 9-3 record that year, and placed three players on the 1964 Western College Lacrosse Association (WCLA) All Star Team. Lehr would leave Arizona after the 1964 season to accept a position teaching Water Resources and served as assistant lacrosse coach at the Ohio State University. Jay also continued coaching lacrosse in the Columbus area for the next 45 years and played goalie in the US Grand Masters World Cup in 1998. Professionally, he went on to become one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subjects of water supply and energy, and he continues to speak around the world on these subjects and writes daily for newspapers and websites. His boundless energy is still visible into his 80's. He completed 9 Hawaiian Ironman races in his 80’s, plays men’s hardball baseball and retired from skydiving in 2020.
Jay settled in the Columbus, Ohio area where he lived until his passing in January 2022 at the age of 86. Jay is survived by his loving wife of 31 years, Janet, 2 children, 2 step-children and 8 grandchildren.
Chuck McChesney (1962-1964, Original Three, Founder, Attack) is recognized as one of the ‘Original Three’, along with Golos and Lehr. Born and raised in a lacrosse hotbed of Troy, New York, Chuck was drawn to lacrosse at an early age and honed his skills at preparatory school. Looking to pursue his studies and game of lacrosse, he enrolled at Hobart College, where he played lacrosse from 1955-57. He joined the United States Army in 1957 where he played off-duty intramural lacrosse. His aggressive style at attack earned him a spot in the North/South Army Scrimmage of 1958—playing against the legendary Jim Brown. Chuck left the military in 1959 and completed his degree at the University of Arizona. Like Golos and Lehr, he stayed very busy working on behalf of the effort to get lacrosse recognized at the University. Chuck made critical contributions in the area of sponsorship and public relations. The relationships that he forged with sponsors John Barton and Seneca Erman, resulted in much-needed financial support for the club. His efforts helped secure the finances necessary to underwrite the lacrosse program at a critical time. In 1964, Chuck was offered a professional position in New York with Pan American Airways and left Tucson for good. This ended his active participation in the program, coincidentally the same year that Golos and Lehr left the program. It is fitting in many respects that the ‘Original Three’—Don Golos, Jay Lehr, and Chuck McChesney—who had done so much to bring lacrosse to the desert, would all leave the team the same year. Chuck lived and worked in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida and North Carolina over the next many years, but one thing remained consistent, his love of lacrosse. At each stop, he would find lacrosse or lacrosse would find him. He continued coaching and growing the game until his health would no longer allow it. Chuck tells us, “The most enjoyable and rewarding of all my working hours was the time when I was fortunate enough to coach kids to grow to be productive young men.”
Chuck lived in Charleston, SC with his son Andy and his daughter-in-law Milissa until his passing in March 2021. We are very grateful to Andy and Milissa, who provided love and care to Chuck during his final years. Chuck is survived by his 3 sons and their families, including 5 grandchildren.
WATCH CHUCK MCCHESNEY'S HALL OF FAME ACCEPTANCE VIDEO
Willy Cooper (1962-1968, Founder, Midfield, Assistant Coach) was born in Boston, raised in New Jersey and Delaware, and picked up lacrosse while attending Dartmouth. After graduating, he applied to the graduate program in nuclear engineering at the University of Arizona (1961). He soon met up with members of the Original Three and quickly became a key contributor to the effort to create a lacrosse team at the University. After graduation, Cooper stayed on with Runk and the team for several more years in a coaching capacity. Willy departed Tucson in 1968 for a job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the California Bay Area, where he would work for over 50 years. He retired in 2018. He continued be involved with the game that he loved throughout his life, coaching at the high school level and playing post-collegiately for the Olympic Club, a legendary club program in San Francisco. Cooper is fondly remembered by some of his players for a remark made when asked what life was like after lacrosse …he responded “there is no after lacrosse!”. In fact, Willy reminds us that he even met his wife, Nancy, through his Arizona Lacrosse contacts.
Willy resides in Pleasanton, CA where he lives with his wife of 57 years, Nancy.
WATCH WILLY COOPER'S HALL OF FAME ACCEPTANCE VIDEO
Robert Kasten (1962-1964, Founder, Defense, Captain, Most Outstanding Player 1964) was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. He first played lacrosse while attending Choate School in Wallingford Connecticut, a prep school where he would spend his sophomore through senior years of high school. In 1960, Bob headed to the Southwest to pursue his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Arizona. Like Cooper, Kasten quickly met up with others that made up the core of the growing lacrosse movement in Tucson. Like all of the other founders of the program, Kasten contributed with his unique set of skills. He was a great leader, communicator, negotiator and facilitator. These skills were very important when it came to working with the University and were critical in navigating the path to varsity status. Original Three member, Jay Lehr said of Kasten, who would go on to be a two term US Senator from Wisconsin, “I was not surprised at all to see that Bob became a US Senator. He was able to navigate the politics of the University very well.” During his time as a member of the team, Kasten was a captain, 1964 Most Outstanding Player and WCLA All Star defenseman. He was also a member and then President of Sigma Nu fraternity. Bob left Arizona after graduation in 1964 to pursue his Master’s Degree at Columbia University, graduating in 1966. He was subsequently granted honorary Doctor of Law Degrees from Milton College and Ripon College. He joined the National Guard in 1966, serving in the Wisconsin Air Guard's 128th Refueling Group until his honorable discharge in 1972. Kasten went on to pursue a career in politics, where he represented his home state of Wisconsin as a State Senator (1972-1974), US Congressman (1975-1979) and US Senator (1981-1993).
Bob and his wife Sarah split their time between the Washington DC area and West Bend, WI. They have one son, Robby.
Steve “Wink” Van Wickler (1970's, Attack, Captain, U.S. National Team Nominee, Assistant Coach) was born and raised in Long Island, NY and played lacrosse from an early age. Wink, a high school classmate of Dohoney, attended Severna Preparatory in Maryland. Recruited to the U.S. Naval Academy, he chose to go to Duke University on a lacrosse scholarship, where he was the team’s leading scorer his freshman year. Recruited to Tucson by Dohoney in 1971, Wink joined the Arizona Lacrosse Club, and emerged as one of the most consistent, prolific scorers over a 12 year career with the Arizona and Tucson Lacrosse Clubs. Along with Dohoney, he was nominated to the U.S. National Lacrosse Team in 1978. Dohoney and Wink were two of only three players nominated from the West. Wink would continue to stay involved with lacrosse in the Tucson area into the late 1980’s, helping with coaching on occasion and playing for the Tucson club team.
Wink eventually settled in New York City and Key West, FL with his wife Linda.
Richie Dohoney (1970's, Defense, Captain, U.S. National Team Nominee, Assistant Coach) is honored for more than a decade of personal commitment to the Arizona Lacrosse program. Dohoney came to the University of Arizona from Hicksville, New York in 1969. Originally on scholarship for basketball and golf. He then joined the lacrosse club in 1971, at a time when the program was struggling to survive. It would take an uncommon effort to bring the game back to Tucson and Richie, along with his friend Craig Hasel, would prove to be instrumental in the effort to resuscitate the program. With Don Golos stepping in to lead, the group began a campaign to canvass, recruit, and attract players, largely from the East Coast. In his junior year, Richie was able to recruit Steve Van Wickler and Neal Reinacher to Arizona from his alma mater in New York. The three, along with Hasel, would play together at UA for many years. In 1978, Dohoney was recognized for his extraordinary leadership and consistent individual achievement over the years through nomination to play for the U.S. National Lacrosse Team. He would go on to serve as an assistant coach for the team into the late 1980’s, leaving his mark on another generation of Arizona Lacrosse players. With his son Jack, Dohoney stayed involved with lacrosse, starting youth programs, coaching and winning the Arizona high school state championship, with Jack winning MVP honors. Jack would go on to attend the University of Arizona and follow in his father’s footsteps as a member of the lacrosse team.
Richie and his wife of 30 years, Cathy, have been a residents of Tucson for 50 years. They have 2 children.
The 1965 WCLA Championship Varsity Team. This squad posted an 11-0 season record, including two wins over the Air Force Academy, ending the Academy's four-year reign as the conference champions. The Wildcats closed out the season with convincing wins over the University of Utah, Claremont, and Stanford to claim both the Rocky Mountain Conference and Western College Lacrosse Association Championships. In 1965, the WCLA consisted of teams from the University of Arizona, Air Force Academy, Claremont College, University of Colorado, Stanford University, University of Utah.
