The first men's lacrosse team in school history, the 1958 squad was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.
The story of the 1958 Towson State Lacrosse Club team begins in 1956 when a few students convinced Doc Minnegan, the athletic director, to permit them to play lacrosse once a week in the gym. The university president, Earle T. Hawkins, encouraged and supported the introduction of lacrosse at the college. A dozen or so male students attended regularly to compete against one another before no spectators. After the love of the game became evident to Doc, he granted permission to form a club lacrosse team that began playing in the spring of 1958.
About 20 students, ranging from ages 18 to 27, formed the nucleus of the first lacrosse team at Towson. They covered a very wide range from relatively accomplished players such as Don Sudbrink, Jack Edwards, Lee Noel, Glenn Jones and Bunky Ford, to guys new to the game such as Marty Mintz, Bob Taylor and Ron Blake.
On the day of the first scheduled practice, the players assembled in eager anticipation but with no coach, confusion reigned. The players turned to Professor Dietrich von Schwerdtner, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and coach of the wrestling team, for help. He turned to his son, Dieti, a life insurance agent, who agreed after realizing he was the last hope for lacrosse to begin that year.
The players continued to have trouble with securing a practice field on campus. Certain areas were off limits for one reason or another and for the first few weeks, the team used several vacant venues. Any sizeable open area was utilized, and the team bounced around from one to the other until they gained permission to use the varsity soccer field.
The next problem for the players was obtaining goal cages and equipment. The college didn't have money for the team to buy goals, helmets or pads. Don Sudbrink found surplus pipe and the team found an accomplished plumber who volunteered to turn the pipe into two regulation goals. A lacrosse coach at Johns Hopkins, Bob Scott, made a major contribution to the team regarding equipment. Hopkins donated a large selection of used helmets, arm and shoulder pads, and practice balls. The school purchased nets for the goals and long-sleeve tee shirts for jerseys.
The team had five scrimmages and games scheduled that year. The first was against the Hopkins freshmen and while the Towson starters held their own early, the Hopkins team earned a decisive win. The Towson team left the game in good spirits, encouraged by having their first game-condition scrimmage. Towson next played two games against the Baltimore Junior College, as well as a scrimmage against the University of Baltimore's "B" squad. While Towson lost those three scrimmages, the scores were close and allowed the team begin gaining confidence.
Towson faced the Baltimore Lacrosse Club (BLC) in their final scrimmage, the only scrimmage at home. The Towson team performed flawlessly and prevailed by a decisive score of 11-4.
The squad went 2-3 that year in regulation. The Tigers posted a 7-4 victory over Brown Lacrosse Club and a 8-7 victory over Gettysburg, but fell short against Loyola (8-6), and twice to the Marine Corps (17-3) and (9-2).
