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.
Severn School
Severna Park, MD 1941-1942
After Charlie had graduated from New Trier High School in Chicago, IL, where he was an outstanding football player, he attended the Severn School (U.S.N.A. Prep School) in Severna Park just outside of Annapolis, MD, the home of the Naval Academy. Severn provided him with further academic and athletic preparation for his ultimate admission into the Navy Academy.
In the spring of 1942, after co-captaining the football team in the fall and wrestling in the winter, Charlie first experienced lacrosse:
I had never seen the sport before, but I was looking for a less boring way to run in order to stay in shape for my upcoming plebe (freshman) football year at the Naval Academy. When I saw that I could run, play a competitive sport, AND hit people with a stick, I decided to give lacrosse a try. (As told to his son, Charlie 3)
In this first year of lacrosse, he did, however, make the All-Maryland School Lacrosse Team.
History of Severn Lacrosse
This account by Coach Paul J. Kesmodel, Severn’s head lacrosse coach, in anticipation of the 1947 season,first appeared in the 1946 The Anchor and was the later reprinted in The Bridge, Severn School, Spring 1997, p 4 & 5. Coach Kesmodel inspired Severn lacrosse teams as head coach for 26 years starting in 1936.
The Ancient Game of Baggataway
Severn took up lacrosse in 1928. In 1929 we won the Maryland Scholastic Association championship, our first and last. [Not quite, Severn also claimed conference championships in 1965, 1968, 1981, 1982, and 1993.] But through the years Severn lacrosse teams, composed largely of boys who never seen a lacrosse stick before coming to Maryland, have given a good account of themselves. Many former Severn players have gained All-American honors in college. Navy teams have had as many as nine Severn boys in starting line-up. During the ten years 1936-1946 the following have been so honored:
1934 Larry Green 1937 John Drew
1938 Dick Lazenby & Bob Bagby 1940 Bill Bonwit
1942 Charlie Guy, Jr., Jack (Killer) Albright, Gus Brady, Bill Graham, & Bill Stills
FIFTY YEARS LATER, we wrote to the All American’s Paul Kesmodel complimented to ask them to share their memories of their lacrosse days at Severn. Sadly, Bill Bonwit, Bob Bagby, and Larry Green have passed on. We did hear from five of the remaining seven.
Charlie Guy, Jr., ’42
Severn introduced me to a sport I had never heard of, coming from the outskirts of Chicago, a sport I am still playing. [Coaches] Paul Kesmodel and Parker Lindsay must have done a pretty good job presenting it to our group of neophytes, since some of the other boys (All Americans) mentioned in the reprinted article had also never seen a lacrosse game. I guess it proves that Severn’s lacrosse coaches before and after WWII were probably excellent coaches because they took untrained players and did a pretty good job, as indicated by subsequent results.
In 1945, Charlie won the William C. Schmeisser Memorial Cup as the best defenseman in the nation. Now spry 73, Charlie does indeed continue to play lacrosse. He played with the Navy Old Goats Team in Vail, CO, tournament in 1996, as well as playing at Severn’s annual odd even year competition at Alumni Weekend in 1994. As the oldest player on the team that year, Charlie played almost the entire game and that was like a man in his 40’s!
History of the School
In 1914, a 28-year-old teacher and his young wife crossed the river from Annapolis to open a boarding school. Rolland and Susan Teel wanted to prepare young men to pass the entrance examination at the United States Naval Academy. The Teels selected Severna Park (then just a small railway stop in Boone, Maryland) because of its accessibility by train, rural atmosphere, and remoteness from “town life” near the Academy. Less than a month after World War I broke out in Europe, Severn School opened its doors to its first six students.
Mr. Teel oversaw many of the improvements to Severn School over the years, always holding to a high standard of character and achievement. Serving as principal (a title later changed to headmaster) for 41 years and Chairman of the Board for another decade, Mr. Teel continued to teach classes. Under our founder’s guidance, Severn changed from a one-year preparatory course to a four-year college preparatory high school in order to meet a shift in admissions policies at the Naval Academy.