Lacrosse is a Passion for Sleepy Hollow 1972 Graduate Albin Haglund

For 1972 Sleepy Hollow graduate Albin Haglund, his love affair with the game of lacrosse started all so innocently.

Sleepy Hollow had just started lacrosse in Haglund's junior year. That year Haglund, turned on to the sport by Tony Scazzero, who is the long-time coach at Texas A & M, gave up baseball.

His senior year, Haglund led Sleepy Hollow in scoring and the rest is history.

"When I picked the sport up, I figured out the trick to this sport is stick work," Haglund said. "I used to play with Tony and all these guys, just go to Sleepy Hollow parking lot, throw coke bottles up there and just shoot at them for hours, four, five hours a day."

Haglund now is the owner operator of Lax Locker in Scottsdale, Ariz., something he has been doing since 2003. The running of Lax Locker includes coaching, running clinics for kids and promoting the game of lacrosse in Arizona.

"I just had an epiphany, I was 49 years old, I just got tired of the tie and jacket and I saw lacrosse was growing," Haglund said. "I always had a passion for the sport and I said, 'Well I am going to open up a lacrosse store in Arizona. I am going to teach lacrosse in Arizona and start youth leagues.' And that's what I did."

The first two years Haglund said were rough but he persevered. 

"The premise of my business is generate through clinics and the store would be the foundation where they come and buy equipment and it would be a revolving door," Haglund said. "That's exactly my marketing plan and it worked. That's what I have been doing the last seven years."

In 2003, Haglund organized youth clinics introducing over 2,000 boys and girls to date the sport of lacrosse. A year later, he organized the first Youth Lacrosse Leagues in Arizona for grades kindergarten through fifth grade.

    Haglund was acknowledged for being a trailblazer for the sport out west when he was presented a "20-years of Service" Youth Award at the US Lacrosse Convention in '07 in Philadelphia.

Haglund's experience out west also includes but not limited to coaching Denver University in '77 while playing for the Denver Lacrosse Club; from 1989-92, he founded and played for the Las Vegas Lacrosse Club; from 1993-94, he was an assistant head coach for Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colo; and  from 98-'00 he was the head coach for Arizona State University.

Players that have assisted at Haglund's clinics include Johns Hopkins graduate Kyle Harrison and Virginia graduate Chris Rotelli. Both earned the Tewaaraton Trophy, given to the national players of the year in college, Harrison in '05 and Rotelli in '03.

Both currently play Major League Lacrosse. Haglund still plays the game himself, as he will be playing for the U.S. Stars in the World Lacrosse Championships July 15-24 in Manchester, England in the 55 and over division.

"I am looking to accomplish winning it," Haglund said. "I won a college championship, I won a 45 and over championship (in '02) and now I am looking for a 55 and over championship then I am basically done. I don't need any more on my resume really, I just love playing. I got an offer I couldn't refuse to go to England."

Haglund said the championships will consist of ex-college players.

"It's pretty cool," Haglund said. "I'm playing with players I played with in college who are still in pretty good shape. I am in pretty decent shape. I'm a little bit heavier than I was in college. The stick work is the key to the whole thing. My stick work is just as good as it was in college. You don't lose it, it's like riding a bicycle."

Haglund's resume includes being a three-year starter at midfield for Cornell. That experience included being on a squad that went 16-0 and won a national championship in '76.

That was quite a turnaround for someone who just started the sport in '71.

"Five years later, I am on ABC Wide World of Sports," Haglund said. "It's funny because they never televised lacrosse back then. It was the first time they televised the sport. It was Frank Gifford's first job announcing for ABC. He did the game with Gene Corrigan, the Virginia coach and eventually became the commissioner of the ACC. I still have the tape of that game, it was pretty fun."