For many years, Casey Vock has helped the sport of lacrosse through his writing, photography, and passion. Now he needs help from the game.
On May 30 at 11:50 a.m. in Baltimore, Casey Vock was shot. He was driving home from a hike when the bullet hit him beneath his left temple and exited below his right eye. It missed his brain by two inches. It caused Vock to crash his car, and the shooters drove off.
Vock was nearly to his apartment. Less than a mile from his home, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He is alive, but there is plenty of work to be done. Surgeries are required to repair his jaw, facial bones, sinuses, and eye. It’s likely that Vock will have lasting damage to his vision from this, and as a sports writer and photographer, his eyes are crucial to his livelihood.
A GoFundMe has been established to help Casey Vock with medical bills, living expenses, and more. In one week, nearly $50,000 has been raised for him among more than 450 donors.
On Monday, Inside Lacrosse’s Matt Kinnear wrote about Vock, whom he considers a good friend. Kinnear shared a more personal account of what he’s done for lacrosse, his love for the game, and who Casey Vock is as a person.
“I have never met someone who puts more into everything they do than Casey Vock,” Kinnear wrote. “He’s a passionate music fan, a passionate friend, passionate about his work and passionate about lacrosse. He makes everyone smile, and if you’ve ever met him – you remember him. He’s the friend who, if you haven’t seen him in a year, you pick up right where you left off right away and you’re immediately back at it.
“If you’re a longtime reader of Inside Lacrosse, or someone who’s gone to a 3d event or just a lacrosse fan on social media, you’ve experienced his work,” Kinnear continued. “He’s done as much to elevate the sport as anyone over the past 10 years. He put everything into every story he’s written, every game he’s covered, every photo he’s shot.”
Casey Vock Background
Vock attended Indian River Central High School before moving on to Jefferson Community College, where he was captain of the lacrosse team. He graduated from Jefferson CC in 2002 and went to SUNY Plattsburgh, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business and journalism in 2005. He then pursued his master’s degrees from Syracuse at the Newhouse School of Public Communications Whitman School of Management, concluding his formal education in 2008.
He’s became freelancing, then found work with Inside Lacrosse as a writer and editor starting in 2011. In 2012, he assumed the media manager role at the Lake Placid Summit Classic, and in 2014, Vock started his work with 3d Lacrosse as an editor, manager, and later as director of communications. He has continued with both organizations since.
Over his years in media, Vock has had writing and photo credits in Inside Lacrosse, SI.com, USA Today, ESPN.com, Lax.com, US Lacrosse Magazine, and many more publications.
“I’ve had a camera in my hands for the better part of the last 15 years,” he wrote on his website about himself. “I first learned to use one in the late 1990s…Since then, the camera has helped me forge a career as a multimedia professional, first as a news reporter, later in the sport of lacrosse, and more recently in marketing-specific roles. Along the way, it’s become more than a passion. Taking pictures is part of my identity.”
