With the death on May 22, 2010 of Charlie Guy, Jr, a Tampa, Florida resident since 1955, a national assemblage of his family, friends, former teammates and players, ex-business associates, and community leaders are joining together to seek his induction into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
About: Hall of Fame Process
In November 2006, Buddy Garland, US Naval Academy (’84) Hall of Fame lacrosse player, first publicly suggested Charlie Guy, Jr.’s possible induction into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
NAVYLAX then supported his suggestion by publishing in December 2006:
Buddy Garland (Navy '84) has recently begun to drum up support for CHG to be recognized by the Lacrosse Hall of Fame. NAVYLAX strongly supports honoring Charlie Guy '46 for his outstanding contributions at Navy, including winning the Schmeisser Award in 1945 as the best defenseman in the country, as well as his contributions at UVA.
Isn't it interesting that one of Charlie's players [UV’s Bill Hooper ‘50] was inducted into the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1975, while Charlie has not been inducted? The NAVYLAX Recognition Committee is committed to correcting these oversights at the national level.
If you are interested in helping with this effort, please consider joining the NAVYLAX Recognition Committee.
Greg Murphy, USNA ’70, and Brian Lantier, USNA ’65, both Navy LAX Hall of Famers, then joined Buddy in his efforts. During their tireless efforts to help raise the final funds needed to complete Bilderback-Moore Navy Lacrosse Hall of Fame, they were also beginning to build support for Charlie’s potential National LAX Hall of Fame candidacy.
As part of their commitment to USNA, they then came at their own expense to Tampa in early 2007, with the dual mission of convincing Charlie…
- to consider financially supporting the build out of the Bilderback-Moore Navy Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
- to consider allowing them and others in the national lacrosse community to seek and support his membership into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
During that 3-hour meeting, the challenge was NOT the money, but rather Charlie’s aversion to being perceived as a braggadocio (One of his favorite words for a braggard....one of his favorite sayings: Spouting whales get the harpoon!). He said that he did not want to do anything or need anything more in his life (except the love of his wife, Marcia, the company of his dog Reilly, and a good cigar) that would make him appear to others that he was motivated by his own self-aggrandizement.
Brian and Greg would not be deterred by this personal 60-year old anti-braggadocio philosophy! They finally challenged him to stop being so selfish and only thinking of himself! Think instead, they said, of the value first and foremost to the Navy LAX and secondarily to the sport of lacrosse in general, including UVA LAX where he had been their first winning coach and his brother, David, had latter attended on scholarship as a football player.
The new Navy LAX Hall of Fame and your membership into the National Lacrosse of Fame just might help Navy to recruit several more new young great lacrosse players and win another national championship.
Brian and Greg are GREAT salesmen…..Charlie agreed on both counts!!
- He agreed to make a leadership contribution for the construction of Hall of Players and Coaches Wing.
- After the meeting as I drove him to his house, he agreed to allow me to begin to start the application process for his consideration for membership into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
Our family will be eternally gratefully for these fine efforts of Brian and Greg to finally motivate Charlie to share more of his fruits of his business successes and his unique lacrosse experiences and accomplishments!!
With the initial guidance of Buddy Garland, the family then began the initial research into the process to gain Charlie Jr.’s membership into the National Lacrosse of Fame. Unfortunately the death of his wife, Marcia, in 2008, and his rapidly deteriorating health situation, including severe short term memory loss, caused the family to suspend their efforts.
Upon Charlie Jr.’s unexpected death in May 2010, his son, Charlie 3, (Charles H., Guy, lll), who also lives in Tampa Bay, then again began the formal process for his potential induction to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Also now providing the family with his direct local help and guidance is George Tracy, a member of the USNA ’63 Hall of Fame and the class of 2008 National Hall of Fame, who now lives in the Sarasota, FL, area.
Our 1st step in this very important and complicated process was conducting the research about this very private and humble man and then building this web site. It was designed and built with the help of Charlie 3's good friend Roxy Caraway, Ewa Beach, HI.
This web site will be an important tool in first gaining support for Charlie, Jr.’s induction into US Lacrosse’s Florida Gulf Coast Chapter Hall of Fame. Charlie Jr.'s membership into this local Chapter's Lacrosse Hall of Fame is mandatory in order to be considered for the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The voting will be conducted by 90 selected members of US Lacrosse's Florida Gulf Coast Chapter.
We need, therefore, to spread the story of Charlie Guy, Jr.'s lifetime experiences in and commitment to lacrosse!
The voting will then occur in October 2010 with announcement of the voting results by December 1, 2010. If Charlie Jr. is selected for this local chapter membership, then his application for the National Hall of Fame package will be submitted by December 15, 2010. The web site will then help us in the building of his national submission package.
Whether you are a supporter of Navy LAX, UVA LAX, or Youth and CLUB LAX in the Florida Gulf Coast, upon reading about Charlie Jr., if you believe that Charlie, Jr.'s lifetime experiences in and commitment to lacrosse are worthy and unique, please help us with this important project!!
Thank you,
Charlie 3 (Charles H. Guy, lll)