Departs On The Top
While there have been few deaf participants in the sport of lacrosse, widely popular on the East coast, especially in New York and Maryland except for one athlete it is not generally known if other deaf Jews have ever played this sport.
That one exception is Ben Wineburg, 22 years old, goalie at Nazareth College, Rochester, N.Y. And he has closed out his four season collegiate lacrosse career on the top – his team winning the NCAA-III national lacrosse championship this past June with a 11-10 overtime victory over Washington College.
That championship title has completely made amends as his team lost in the 1995 NCAA-III championship game to Salisbury State University. Winning that championship, the first in Nazareth’s history, was Wineburg’s number one priority during the 1996 season. Obviously his patience paid off.Wineburg was a prematurely born baby, 2 1/2 months too soon. He hovered so close to death that a group of Rabbis was called in for final rites. By a medical miracle the baby survived but became deaf. He grew up as one of the few Jews in the small town of Auburn, N.Y.
He grew up playing hockey and gymnastics in addition to lacrosse, and won several all-Onondaga League honors while attending Auburn High School. Because of Wineburg’s size, only 5’6 tall and 160 lbs, collegiate lacrosse recruiters did not beat a path to his door. As a result only Nazareth College asked him to come and play lacrosse. He also liked hockey and even Canisius College recruited him for this sport.
He was frustrated his first two seasons at Nazareth, not because of his deafness but because he was backing up an All-American goalie. It pays to be patient and after Wineburg’s sophomore season, the All-American goalie graduated – and the goalie’s job was Wineburg’s to lose.
After two years of sitting on the bench, Wineburg was ready to play – and he did – becoming a NCAA-III All-American in his junior season. He wasn’t satisfied, though because of his team’s runner up finish at the national championships.
Wineburg, during this season, was ranked among top 10 goalies in percentage of saves made and in goals allowed en route to his team’s national championship.
The championship game against Washington College, taking place at the University of Maryland football stadium, attracted nearly 19,000 fans. It was the largest crowd to watch a NCAA-III athletic event, in any sport.
What is lacrosse? It is an ancient sport invented by the Iroquois Native American tribe many centuries ago, and adapted into its modern form nowadays. It is a fast paced game where the objective is to score by tossing the ball through the air to the opposing net. Players handle and pass the ball with special webbed sticks. Drive through the suburbs of New York City, Rochester, N.Y. and Baltimore, MD one will find many kids on the streets tossing lacrosse balls around instead of playing catch with a baseball. Not so on the West Coast.
At Nazareth he majored in Business Administration and is now thinking of becoming a lawyer.
