Long Valley Lacrosse Founder Inducted Into Lacrosse Hall Of Fame

LONG VALLEY, NJ — When Frederick “Fred” McFarlin moved with his wife and four sons to Long Valley in the summer of 1973, there wasn’t a lacrosse program in sight in Morris County's western region.

Lacrosse had been a part of his upbringing in Maryland as a student at Loyola High School in 1951 and then in college in New York at Cornell University in 1955.

His son Kevin said Fred McFarlin lived in locations until Long Valley with lacrosse at the heart of local sports programs, first in Maryland, next in New York State and then when the family moved to Lynbook on Long Island, just before relocating to Long Valley.

At the time the family arrived in Long Valley, Kevin McFarlin said, New Jersey towns with lacrosse programs included Montclair, Boonton, Mountain Lakes, Hanover Park and Maplewood.

It was then Fred McFarlin began organizing on several fronts, fundraising to start lacrosse programs in the community, as well as West Morris Central High School.

At West Morris Central, Kevin McFarlin said his dad teamed up with the high school’s Athletic Director at the time, Dave Pooley, who earned his own spot on West Morris Central High School’s Wall of Fame.

With that connection, the pair became unstoppable in their mission in starting a high school boys’ lacrosse program in 1975 at West Morris Central High School.

“The Long Valley program exploded,” said Kevin McFarlin, referring to both the high school and the Long Valley Junior Lacrosse Club program, which is for kids up to eighth grades.

McFarlin, who accepted an award at the 23rd Annual NJ Lacrosse Hall of Fame Induction on his father’s behalf this past Monday night, said part of his father’s laser precision in not only starting up teams and teaching kids to play successfully, was in-part to his organized ways as a retired Navy officer.

His father, he said, served in the Navy for about two decades between active duty and in the reserves, before retiring as a lieutenant commander.

In the first days of Long Valley lacrosse in 1974, at a time when Long Valley was mainly a farming and blue collar community, though the team had the same gear as those they opposed, they started out wearing football Jerseys, until they were fully established, McFarlin said.

“We didn’t look great, but we could play,” he added.

McFarlin and his siblings all ended up playing, with McFarlin eventually heading off to Salisbury University - formerly Salisbury State College - where he was goalie on the college lacrosse team. He also played for the University of North Carolina’s National Championship Team in 1986.

Two of the McFarlin boys were Division 1 players and one is a coach today, who coaches his son’s team.

“Some of his [Fred McFarlin's] grandchildren have picked up a [lacrosse] stick,” Kevin McFarlin said.

Fred McFarlin’s leadership had a great influence on many of Long Valley's players, including Dave Janke, who started with Long Valley’s youth program in 1985 and remains a Long Valley Lacrosse Board member, serving as the club’s president.

Janke remembers most especially, McFarlin’s enthusiasm to recruit players and help them to play their best game possible.

“He would travel anywhere, to play anyone, with any group of kids that were willing,” Janke said. “Such an ambassador for the sport.”

“He created a blue collar work ethic that still exists today throughout the Long Valley and West Morris Central lacrosse programs,” Janke added.

Kevin McFarlin said his father’s influence inspired one West Morris Central alumni, now a retired Air Force Colonel, who credited the way Fred McFarlin interacted with and raised up players, as a reason he was able to make it into the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“Handwritten thank you notes meant as much to him [Fred McFarlin] as championships,” Kevin McFarlin said.

Fred McFarlin’s total time devoted as Long Valley’s youth lacrosse programs founder and coach was from 1974 through 1987, as well as his time as co-coach at West Morris Central High School.

He also coached at Morristown High School and traveled with lacrosse teams on goodwill exhibition tours to England and Canada, then helped to host the foreign teams when the exchange brought them to the United States.

He remained an enduring figure in lacrosse, becoming known as a “consummate ambassador” for the game, growing it wherever he lived, creating some programs from the ground up at the youth, high school and college levels, in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, where he now resides. For McFarlin most importantly, it has always been a focus on fundamentals and sportsmanship.

As part of his induction into the Hall of Fame, he was also recognized for his work as the “driving force” of the National Youth Lacrosse Association, which is now part of USA Lacrosse.

Kevin McFarlin said his father, who remained a coach well into his 80s, was touched by the recognition he’s received, for his five decades devoted to the game.

McFarlin recently went through his father’s wardrobe in search of something, to find all of his lacrosse jerseys and shirts, even from the exhibition games in England and Toronto.

“It was like a time capsule,” he said.

At the Hall of Fame ceremony, he bumped into two of three youth coaches that his dad had faced on the field all those years ago, Hall of Famers themselves.

“They told me it was great to see Dad get this recognition,” he said.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com