As youngsters, Brian Jackson and Haywood Miller would never have imagined they would one day be inducted into the Chesapeake Chapter of USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame for their accomplishments as standout defensemen.
Neither played lacrosse growing up.
Miller spent his formative years in Princeton, New Jersey, as a serious competitive swimmer. He spent many years as part of an elite private program and was the New Jersey 10-and-under state champion in the 50-yard breaststroke.
When his father, who worked for IBM, was transferred to the Annapolis area, Miller enrolled at Wroxeter Academy entering the eighth grade. Lacrosse was the spring sport at the Arnold private school and Miller was intrigued.
“I was very successful in swimming, but I did not love the sport. It was very demanding and the training was intense,” Miller said. “When I went to Wroxeter and discovered lacrosse, I thought to myself that this was my chance to get out of swimming.”
Jackson was a three-sport athlete who played baseball during the spring through his sophomore year at Arundel High.
“I was a pretty good baseball player until freshman year of high school when pitchers started throwing curveballs and working the outside of the plate,” he said.
Arundel’s junior varsity baseball team practiced on a field adjacent to the one used by lacrosse and Jackson would watch with interest while standing around in the outfield.
As a junior, Jackson was riding the bus back from an away basketball game when he and a teammate agreed to give up baseball and try out for lacrosse.
Jackson was the starting crease defenseman for a loaded Arundel squad that captured the Class AA regional championship in 1981 and fell in love with the stick sport.
For Miller and Jackson, those humble beginnings were the launch point for decorated careers that culminated with them becoming multi-year All-Americans at Harvard and Maryland, respectively. Those two powerful defensemen will be inducted together into the Chesapeake Chapter Hall of Fame on Thursday.
Schoolboy legend
Miller suddenly found himself surrounded by an impressive array of talent as a member of the football and lacrosse teams at Wroxeter. Anne Arundel County Sports Hall of Famers Don Sadler and John Lamon were among the school’s two-sport stars and almost every member of the starting lineup in lacrosse went on to play at the Division I level.
“I moved up to varsity as a sophomore and covered John Lamon every day in practice. I had to improve or otherwise I would get embarrassed,” Miller said. “I grew to really love lacrosse. I played wall ball all the time and became ambidextrous as a defenseman, which was rare in those days.”
In 1976, Miller was part of a large contingent of Wroxeter athletes that transferred to Severna Park High. Others who left the troubled private school, which would close two years later, were Ben Lamon, Jeff Kendall, Tom Lloyd and John Barnes. They teamed up with several talented lacrosse players already at Severna Park to form a powerhouse.
Miller was one of the stars of the fabled 1977 Severna Park squad that went 13-1, captured the Class AA Regional championship and was ranked No. 1 in the final Baltimore-metro area poll by the Evening Sun. Severna Park remains the last public school accorded that highest of honors.
“Haywood was this tall, skinny guy who didn’t know the first thing about lacrosse and wasn’t very good when he first started playing,” said John Barnes, a teammate at both Wroxeter and Severna Park. “To his credit, Haywood developed a passion for the game and never stopped working. By sophomore year he was pretty darn good. He was a big, strong guy who was a nasty and intimidating presence.”
Miller was named the Baltimore-metro area Player of the Year by the News American, which described him as “an outstanding athlete and outstanding person.” As a senior, the rangy 6-foot-3, 190-pound defender shut down such standout attackmen as Jeff Cook (Boys’ Latin, Johns Hopkins) and Lance Kohler (Calvert Hall, Maryland).
“I did not ever want to get beat, so I was very focused on footwork and positioning. I was very aggressive and a real big hitter, but I never threw the all-or-nothing type of checks,” said Miller, who nonetheless applied plenty of punishment with an old wooden long pole.
Miller was blessed with tremendous stick skills, gobbled up ground balls and had the speed to be a factor in the clearing game.
“I was a somewhat unusual and sort of flashy defenseman for that time, which kind of stood out,” said Miller, who considers being named to the News American’s 20th anniversary All-Metro lacrosse “my all-time highest honor.”
As a two-time, first team All-Metro performer, Miller had scholarship offers from the likes of Maryland, Virginia and Johns Hopkins among others, but surprised many by choosing the educational and career opportunities offered by Harvard.
“Harvard went 4-8 the year I was being recruited so I didn’t make the decision based on lacrosse,” he said.
Miller suffered a torn ACL while wrestling as a junior. There was no such thing as reconstructive knee surgery in those days, so Miller spent the rest of his athletic career wearing the bulky Lenox Hill derotation knee brace.
“I got my knee drained on a regular basis while I was at Harvard,” he said.
Despite never being 100% physically, Miller enjoyed an outstanding career with the Crimson — becoming a three-time All-American and four-time All-Ivy League selection. He was the top close defenseman for the 1980 Harvard team that captured the Ivy League championship and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, then served as captain as a senior.
“Haywood was a tremendous athlete and a terrific defenseman. He had great stick skills as well as superb vision and could really thread the needle on clearing passes to generate fast breaks,” said Bob Scalise, Harvard head coach from 1974 to 1987. “Haywood was a real stopper type of defender. He was really intelligent and very good at working the angles to figure out how to take space away from attackmen.”
Miller was inducted into the Harvard Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Severna Park High Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Late bloomer
Jackson credits fellow close defensemen Fred Plitt and Tom Campbell with teaching him the basics of lacrosse during his first season playing the sport. He was a willing learner and quickly grasped the fundamentals of sliding to open men and as an All-County linebacker in football embraced the hitting that required.
“I couldn’t catch or throw at all at first, but my best asset was that I had quick feet and knew how to use body positioning to stay in front of people,” he said.
Jackson worked at the Fort Meade Commissary alongside Mike Hubbard, a first team All-County midfielder at Meade High who earned a scholarship to Maryland. Hubbard told Jackson if he wanted to get good he needed to constantly carry around his stick, cradling the ball and playing “wall ball.”
“I lived near Four Seasons Elementary and I spent a lot of time that summer throwing and catching against the building,” said Jackson, who also benefited from playing in the Hero’s Summer League.
Jackson was a completely different player as a senior, earning first team All-County honors and drawing the interest of Division I recruiters. He committed to Navy because that was the only school that offered an opportunity to play football and lacrosse.
However, Jackson had to attend the Naval Academy Prep School to get qualified academically and did not do so. He wound up at Anne Arundel Community College playing football for Alan Pastrana and lacrosse for Mike Ballas.
Not getting into the Naval Academy was a blessing in disguise for Jackson.
“It absolutely worked out for the best. It seemed like a setback at the time, but it turns out that was the best thing that ever happened. I realized I needed to reset my priorities,” he said.
Jackson shined at AACC, earning first team All-American honors and Defenseman of the Year by the National Junior College Athletic Association. Anne Arundel president Tom Florestano was close friends with Maryland coach Dick Edell and tipped him off about Jackson.
Maryland wound up offering a scholarship and the rest is history. Jackson became a two-time All-American for the Terps, earning first team accolades as a senior. He was the top shutdown defender for the 1987 Maryland squad that went 12-0 and was ranked No. 1 nationally before being upset by Johns Hopkins in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
“Brian was a heck of an athlete — one of the best we ever had at Maryland,” said Dave Slafkosky, defensive coordinator at Maryland throughout Edell’s 18-year tenure. “What I loved about Brian Jackson was that he was willing to cover anyone. He never backed down from a challenge.”
Jackson made a major statement as a sophomore when he delivered an open field hit that knocked Johns Hopkins midfielder Del Dressel, a rare four-time, first team All-American, unconscious.
“I remember Brian took two steps and just drilled Dressel. It was a clean hit, but the officials called a penalty because it was so brutal,” Slafkosky said.
Slafkosky said Jackson was pretty “loosey-goosey” as a freshman and recalls looking out on the field during a game against North Carolina and seeing the defenseman standing at midfield holding his stick like it was a guitar.
“Brian got a lot more serious about lacrosse as a sophomore and took his game to another level,” Slafkosky said. “He was a smart guy who picked up things really well and he wasn’t afraid to suggest stuff.”
Known as a physical force and intimidator, Jackson, a 5-foot-11, 220-pounder was a two-time first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection. The 5-foot-11, 220-pounder was assigned to cover such standouts as Roddy Marino (Virginia), Brian Wood (Johns Hopkins), Gary Seivold (North Carolina) and Glen Miles (Navy).
“Brian was big, strong and aggressive. He could play any style of attackman because he had the speed and athleticism to cover a smaller, quicker guy and the power and physicality to defend a bigger, stronger guy,” said Dan Coughlan, who started alongside Jackson in 1987. “Not many attackmen wanted to go to the cage against Jacks.”
It remains painful for Jackson to talk about the 1987 Maryland, which is considered one of the greatest in Division I history despite getting upset in the NCAA semis. The Terps averaged almost 17 goals per game and dominated all comers before losing a rematch with the archrival Blue Jays.
“It was great to be part of such a historic team. We truly loved each other and played for each other. It was just a magical season regardless of how it ended,” said Jackson, who earned a law degree from Washington & Lee then spent 22 years in the Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate.
“I have so many great memories from my time playing lacrosse. I think of all the great people I met through the sport. Being part of that culture really contributed to who I am today.”
Chesapeake Chapter of USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame banquet
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 25
WHERE: Annapolis Elks Lodge
INDUCTEES: Colleen Anderson (McDonogh, Loyola College); Brian Jackson (Arundel, Maryland); David Jones (St. Mary’s, Virginia); Haywood Miller (Severna Park, Harvard); Acacia Walker-Weinstein (Annapolis, Maryland)