Approval of lacrosse for 2028 L.A. Olympics traces back to work of Rutgers' Tom Hayes, Bob DeMarco
Former Rutgers men's lacrosse coach Tom Hayes, who died in 2022, spent much of his professional life fighting to have lacrosse approved an Olympic sport. It was approved Oct. 16 by the IOC fort the 2028 Los Angeles Games.There was not a great deal that Tom Hayes and Bob DeMarco disagreed upon during the 20-plus seasons that the latter served as defensive coordinator under Hayes for the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team.
That is when word was made official that men’s and women’s lacrosse had been approved by the International Olympic Committee as medal sports for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. There are now 90 countries around the globe with membership in World Lacrosse, which got its start as the Federation of International Lacrosse in 2008 with Hayes at the forefront of that movement. He was globe-trotting ambassador for the fastest game on two feet even during his successful tenure at Rutgers from 1975 to 2000. Once retired as a coach, Hayes was in the air on his way to promoting the game almost as much as he was home at the dinner table.
Could it be that DeMarco’s connection with Hayes was just a bit stronger since they coached together for so long? “Tom found out one of the steps was to get into all the organizations before the Olympics and we had to get the men’s and women’s programs to come under one umbrella. It wasn’t easy at the beginning, but they saw what it would mean for us to get back into the Olympics,” DeMarco said.
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