In that time frame, Joe Cooper met Dr. Steve Hinchey at a party, who said he had played lacrosse briefly at Fairfield University. Joe told Chris about this, and he called Dr. Hinchey to ask if he would be interested in coaching this group of roughly fifteen 7th and 8th graders, who were by now pretty good at passing and catching but had never seen a lacrosse field. As luck would have it, their first game was against a neatly attired West Hartford team. Coach Hinchey walked this rag-tag group of boys wearing many shades of blue t-shirts and various colored helmets onto the field, where the boys saw goals and a lined field for the first time. Much to the chagrin of West Hartford, the rag-tags from Glastonbury picked up the game quickly, and due to their superior ball-handling skills, they won the game! They did not only win that game but won all their games that year, including the finale at Madison, which made them the Champions of their league. It indeed was a remarkable and unique start to the Glastonbury lax programs.

Once at Glastonbury High School, this group of young men formed a club team. After two years, they prepared a presentation for the school board to request Varsity status. Following their petition, the school board voted No. They were all shocked, and the boys were highly disappointed. Joe then wrote a letter to the Citizen expressing his concerns about how the school board members could vote No. He believed this went against the school board members’ central role: supporting the kids. Thankfully they chose to revisit the issue in a private meeting which resulted in approving lacrosse as a boy’s varsity sport beginning in 1983.

Jim Kearney of West Hartford was selected to be the first head coach. He had played at Conard High School and briefly at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. Jim also coached the GHS hockey team. The original team was quite successful, and a junior varsity program was initiated as time passed. Dr. Hinchey, Steve Hazard, Henry Lee, and Bob Trowbridge were among the early coaching staff. Joe joined them a couple of years later, in 1988, after his youngest son had graduated, and became Coach Kearney’s assistant focusing on the defense. Coach Kearney left to coach Avon in 1993, and Joe remained the Head Coach through 1998. Joe was succeeded by Mario Lopez in 1999, who was a guidance counselor at Gideon Wells Middle School. Coach Lopez stepped down as head coach after one season but stayed on to be the defensive assistant under new head coach Peter Pfeffer in 2000. Under the guidance of Coach Pfeffer and help from Coach Lopez and John Gormley, offensive assistant, the GHS lacrosse program became a state powerhouse making it to two consecutive CIAC State Title games in 2022 and 2003. Since then, the Glastonbury High School boy’s lacrosse team has consistently been in the Top 10 in the State. From 2020 and 2013, the program’s fifth head coach, Mark Landers, was able to sustain the program’s success by capturing three CCC West titles in four years. In 2014 GHS welcomed the program’s sixth head coach and GHS lacrosse alumni Scott Hinchey, who was eager to continue the success established by his predecessors.

From the Desk of Joe Cooper