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Tim Goettelmann on cover of Lacrosse Magazine
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Thursday Cheese: Tim Goettelmann, 2010 Person of the Year

Tim Goettelmann Named 2010 Lacrosse Magazine Person of the Year

For those of you who haven’t followed Tim Goettelmann’s career, you need to read the press release below and check our previous interview with him. Stand up guy, great role model, completely selfless. He’s like the patron saint of lax!

Congrats to Tim from LAS!

Tim Goettelmann on cover of Lacrosse Magazine

BALTIMORE – US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse, today named Long Island Lizards’ attackman Tim Goettelmann the 2010 Lacrosse Magazine Person of the Year.

A three-time all-star and one of the few 10-year veterans of Major League Lacrosse since that professional league’s inaugural 2001 season, Goettelmann broke two MLL records this year and led the Lizards to the league championship game. But it is work off the field that personifies the values of lacrosse that many who participate in the game hold so dear.

Affectionately known as “The Monster” for his 6-foot-4, 230-pound frame, Goettelmann frequently donates his time and resources to helping young patients at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. Goettelmann donated his entire 2010 MLL salary to Monster’s Kids, a charitable foundation he created two years ago to benefit sick children. Through grass-roots events and other donations Goettelmann has secured, including many from MLL teammates and rivals, Monster’s Kids has generated about $115,000 for Cohen Children’s Medical Center patients, which include premature births, children with cancer and blood disorders, those with psychiatric needs, and more.

“Having two healthy kids really made me realize how lucky I was,” Goettelmann said. “That really was the driving force. I do look at my wife a lot and we’re very lucky, very blessed. I have a great job and I’m still playing lacrosse. There’s been so many opportunities where I could have been bounced from the lineup and the team, and different people over the years have allowed me to still play after 10 years, which is pretty amazing. It really was just the fact of thinking that I was going to retire, and I wanted to give back.”

“We chronicle great players all the time, but to profile a great person like Tim is an honor,” said Paul Krome, editor of Lacrosse Magazine. “He’s among the best representatives of the lacrosse community. Anyone associated with the game can be proud of his efforts and hopefully strive to mirror them for a similarly noble cause.”

In the MLL, Goettelmann continues to leave a footprint on the field few can match. He established this year league career records for goals (251) and game-winning goals (14), in addition to already holding the mark for career games (which grew to 122) and goals in a game (nine, which matches his uniform number). His 29 points (21g, 8a) helped carry Long Island to a 7-5 regular season, after which the Lizards beat Denver but lost to Chesapeake in the playoffs. Goettelmann, who led Loyola to four NCAA tournament appearances before graduating in 2000, will return for an 11th MLL season next spring.

Lacrosse Magazine’s Person of the Year was initiated in 2007 and is an honor reserved for the person who has had a tremendous positive influence on the sport and transcended all levels of the game in that given year. Previous winners include Duke men’s coach John Danowski (2007), Northwestern women’s coach Kelly Amonte Hiller (2008) and Denver men’s coach Bill Tierney (2009). A complete 2010 year in review, including the cover feature on Goettelmann, will run in the December issue of Lacrosse Magazine.
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