On Tuesday, Ed Van Tine, a former men’s lacrosse coach at Canisius, will be honored as a member of the Class of 2024 and posthumously inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.
The Buffalo Convention Center will host the induction ceremony and banquet. The Class of 2024 also includes Rob Gronkowski, Vic Carucci, Brooks Orpik, and Dr. Bridget Niland as inductees.
Western New York has been home to inductees into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Whether participating in amateur or professional sports, these men and women have made contributions to the well-being of Greater Buffalo’s sports scene through their performances, time, energy, and/or financial support.
In May 1989, Van Tine, then known as the “Godfather of Lacrosse in Western New York,” was appointed as the inaugural head coach of the Canisius men’s lacrosse program. Van Tine established the program during his three seasons as head coach of the Golden Griffins (1990–1992), mentoring several Canisius Sports Hall of Fame honorees, including Jason Cummings and Randy Mearns, as well as other standout student-athletes. He also helped lead the fledgling program to 12 victories.
Ed Van Tine, who excelled in a variety of sports in high school, enlisted in the Navy and served in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart twice, the second time following an attack that nearly killed his whole reconnaissance squad.
He relocated to Hamburg in 1975 after graduating from Cortland State with a degree in leisure teaching. He introduced his passion for lacrosse to Western New York by starting the city’s first varsity boy’s lacrosse program.
Van Tine Van Tine was a coach at Buffalo State and St. Francis High School, as well as the founder of the sport, in addition to his work at Canisius and Hamburg. He initiated the first local lacrosse competition, the “Great Summer Shootout,” which is now known as the EVT Memorial Lacrosse Tournament, and he formed the Western New York Lacrosse Foundation.
By participating in and overseeing youth lacrosse programs at summer camps at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy, Van Tine also contributed to the growth of the sport outside of the Western New York region.