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For Alfie Jacques, Making Wooden Lacrosse Sticks Is A Way Of Life For Alfie Jacques, Making Wooden Lacrosse Sticks Is A Way Of Life

The sticks provide a deep and important religious and cultural connection

By Andrew Graham

REPORTER: South of Syracuse … down Route 11A … across from the green mailbox and down the slippery, icy hill … you get to this place.

And this man.

For nearly 58 years, Alfie Jacques has been making hand made wooden lacrosse sticks here in this workshop on Onondaga Nation. He started with his father and they learned through trial and error, mastering the technique through years of practice.

JACQUES: “Well I enjoy it immensely. I mean, would you be proud of making something like this? Yes you would.”

REPORTER: After cutting and splitting hickory wood into beams then cutting it down to proper size using the chart he’s marked on his wall, Jacques steams and shapes the sitcks, molding the stick into shape with a piece of wire.

After that, it’s time to carve. From this bench, Jacques makes hundreds of sticks a year. It used to be thousands before plastics caught on in the 70s. But he keeps making them.

Barrels full. Literally.

Despite turning 70 later this month, Jacques kees going to keep alive an important religious tradition that spans from birth…

JACQUES: “The baby boys are given a teeny little lacrosse stick in the crib. So, they play — they start playing as soon as they can. They get ’em started at four, five years old.

REPORTER: … to death.

JACQUES: “The older guys who pass away, they have a wooden stick in the casket. When they go into the spirit world, they take a stick with them.”

REPORTER: So for now, Jacques will be here, doing what he loves. From Onondaga Nation, I’m Andrew Graham. N-C-C News

ONONDAGA NATION (NCC NEWS) — From birth until death, lacrosse fills the lives of the Onondaga people.

When a baby boy is born, he is given a traditional, small wooden stick in the crib. When a man dies, he is buried with his stick at his side.

And chances are, either way, it was made by Alfie Jacques.

For nearly six decades, Jacques has spent his days carving hickory trees into wooden lacrosse sticks. By hand. He started with his father almost 58 years ago and the pair learned through trial and error. At first, the sticks they made were “ugly,” but over time, Jacques and his father perfected their craft.

“Would you be proud of making something like this?” he asked rhetorically, gesturing with a stick in his hands. “Yes you would.”

At their peak, the pair was taking orders for and making upwards of 10,000 sticks each year. But in the mid 1970s, when plastic and composite lacrosse sticks caught on, demand plummeted. Piles of split hickory meant to be steamed, molded and carved got burned up as firewood.

Still, he persisted. Though he makes only hundreds, maybe 1,000 sticks each year,  Jacques keeps going because of the importance of the game.

Lacrosse, or the “Creator’s game” holds intense religious and spiritual meaning to the Onondaga. They play “medicine games,” which can be called to heal a community, to settle a dispute or celebrate. Old players — having children makes one “old” — are pitted against young players. Unlike a normal lacrosse game, in which 10 players play for each team, medicine games can feature upwards of 100. There are no boundaries, the goals are made of sticks and the games must be played with a traditional wooden stick.

Scoring in a medicine game is simple, too. First team to three goals wins. Some games still take hours.

How the game is played matters. Jacques said the game is meant to played hard, but without anger. He’s played in them and when he gets hit, he’s not supposed to retaliate. It’s part of the game.

Jacques, who turns 70 years old later this month, hasn’t played in a medicine game in a few years. He’s been in his workshop, making sticks. If one is called, he’ll be ready and so will his sticks.

“I enjoy it immensely,” he said.

 

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