As a member of the class of 1949, I am in my 80’s and find myself reflecting upon my life. Deerfield played a huge role in a somewhat different way that I imagine my classmates experienced. I want to share that story. It started at football practice when Ben Haviland, the line coach, asked me what I played in the spring. I told him baseball was the only thing I knew. He said he had a better idea. He gave me a lacrosse stick with the admonition that we were going to work Sundays on stick work. We did all fall and much of the winter. The first lacrosse game I ever saw I played in and the second I started for Deerfield. It changed my life for the sport has been a centerpiece; at college where I captained the team and had an All-American rating, in post college years I played and coached club teams and finally I’m still a volunteer coach in Skaneateles Schools working with youngsters. My three sons, all Deerfield graduates, played lacrosse in college. Grandsons are now coming along as well.
Tom Bloomer
Class of 1949