RPI Lacrosse & the Olympics

Introduction

Typically, the sport of lacrosse is not shown in the Summer Olympics. However, from the early to mid 1900's, lacrosse appeared five times. Its first showcase was the 1904 Summer Olympic Games hosted in St. Louis with a total of three teams: two Canadian teams and one American team. In 1908, 1928, 1932, and 1948, lacrosse was, again, showcased with various teams playing each other. Today, I will primarily go over the 1948 Summer Olympics and RPI's appearance in it.

RPI & The Olympics

In 1948, the Summer Olympic Games were hosted in London. Because of this, a team would need to represent the U.S. Luckily for RPI, they were on a hot streak. In 1947, they went a record of 11 wins and 1 loss and following that in 1948, they had a record of 13 wins and 0 losses. Because of this, they got an invite but, there was a problem, they needed money. Nowadays, it's easy to raise money through sponsorships and deals but this is back in the 1940's right after World War II. So, they really needed all hands on deck to raise around $17,000 (equivalent to ~$210,000 today). They raised ~$2,300 of it from $2 buttons to Troy community members, ~$5,200 ticket sales from a RPI game/parade they hosted in May, Troy Record newspaper fund that had $1,300, each class donating a small amount of money as well as the team going through every avenue to really help them reach for their budget (pie-eating contest, donations, store rebates, RPI trustees, even Union College fans donated). Luckily, they raised enough money to go.

The Results

Well? What happened? Did they do well?
Believe it or not, they were a force to be reckoned with. They had a record of 8 wins and 1 tie. One of their wins was "to be disputed" but we can count it anyways. From a story told, the 1 tie that RPI had was one of the most intriguing games to happen. They played against the all England team in

References

https://www.wamc.org/wamc-news/2021-08-05/when-rpi-lacrosse-went-to-the-olympics