Webb’s legacy continues to live within New England lacrosse community

Off to a slow start this spring, Pinkerton Academy boys lacrosse coach Steve Gaudreau normally would have picked up the phone to hear a familiar, comforting voice – one full of wisdom that can put everything in perspective both on and off the field.

A call to his mentor and former Nashua High School coach, Gordie Webb, is no longer possible.

This is the first season since Gaudreau’s coaching career began at Bow High School some 20 years ago that he can’t make that call to talk about lacrosse, or his personal life. Webb died on May 26, 2023, at 80 years old, after a short period of declining health from auto immune encephalitis.

The news came as a shock to the entire lacrosse community at the time. The grieving continues a year later.

“Gordie was everything for me, as far as a mentor, a friend, from a real early age, but certainly as a coach,” said Gaudreau, who’s Astros – following a three-game win streak over Merrimack, Londonderry and Windham – now sit at 6-5 with seven games remaining in regular season action. “He’s a guy that as a 22, 23 year old, I was able to sit down with him and understand how to go about running a program. He was always somebody that was just a phone call away.

“There is no doubt, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for Gordie.”

Gaudreau is just one of many branches on the Gordie Webb Lacrosse Tree – one with strong roots still thriving. The branches consist of players, coaches and officials stretching throughout New England.

Todd Koss, a teammate of Gaudreau’s on that NHS title team, has witnessed just how far Webb’s legacy reaches firsthand.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a lacrosse field from Vermont to South Boston, whether it was playing summer league right after college when I was 23 or 24 years old, to now playing over-30, over-40, over-50 men’s lacrosse leagues, or coaching, I can’t tell you how many people know or knew of Gordie, or more importantly how many people just heard that he was the man,” Koss said. “I remember being in a game in Southie when I was about 26 years old, and I knew the ref. Gordie had told me to give the ref a hard time because Gordie had coached this one ref.

“So I gave the guy a hard time, you know he blew a call, and I said ‘Gordie Webb would be pissed off at that call!’ and he fired back ‘You’re damn right Gordie would be!’ This ref had never met me in his entire life, but we instantly bonded on that. Then two seconds later, a guy from the other team says ‘you knew Gordie Webb? He’s the man, huh?’ I asked if he ever played for coach. He said no, he just heard about him.

“He has tentacles everywhere, for every part of the game. It’s just unbelievable, his reach.”

It’s a reach that offered support and guidance to all he touched.

Webb gave Gaudreau the confidence needed to believe he, too, could be a coach of the sport they shared a love for.

“Gordie has meant everything to my career as a coach,” Gaudreau said. “I started coaching high school in 2004, and he was the first call that I made. He was my reference. I can remember the binder that I took into my interview at Bow High School. I felt like I already had all the answers thanks to Gordie.”

For Gaudreau, that connection was first made in the Gate City, where as a Nashua High School junior, he was a part of a Webb coached Panthers team that became the first New Hampshire opponent to beat Pinkerton Academy for a championship during the sports first five years of NHIAA varsity existence.

That 1998 title was the first and only title in the history of Nashua High School boys lacrosse – pre- and post-split. The Panthers would return to the title game in 1999, but lost in a rematch, kicking off another four-straight championship run for the Astros.

That 1998 title win also came on the campus that Gaudreau now patrols daily as a teacher and coach. A point not lost on fellow Nashua alums like James Reilly.

Reilly, an assistant varsity lacrosse coach and the Assistant Head of School for Campus Life at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, is also one of the top-rated lacrosse officials in the Granite State.

A member of Webb’s Panthers teams, Reilly graduated from Nashua High School in 1997, one year prior to the program’s miraculous title run. He uses knowledge gained from Webb in his roles as official and coach – which included a stint as head coach at crosstown rival Bishop Guertin. Reilly still keeps in contact with the underclassmen he watched grow and eventually hoist the title plaque for his alma mater.

“Looking back on that ’98 Nashua team, it’s ironic that there’s Stevie winning a state championship on Pinkerton’s field and then here he is 20 some years later coaching those guys,” Reilly said. “It’s awesome. I love it.”

Whether coaching or officiating, Reilly, like the majority of Webb’s students and coaching peers, has always had Webb on speed dial.

“He was always just a call away,” Reilly said, “and always happy and excited to hear from you and what you were doing now.”

Webb always wanted to know what games Reilly was working. He was invested deeply in his former players’ careers and lives.

“Gordie had such a respect of the game,” Reilly said. “He honored the game. He knew the history of the game.“

Webb, a native of Haverhill, Mass., fell in love with lacrosse early on in life and became a standout player under legendary coach Dick Garber at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the late 1960s. Webb transitioned from player to coach following college graduation as a wrestling and lacrosse coach at Berwick (Maine) Academy.

He jumped to the college ranks at Boston State College (now UMass Boston) for 12 years from 1971-82, leading the team to six Colonial League championships and five runner-up finishes. He was an assistant with the Boston Blazers of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1995-97 while simultaneously coaching Nashua High School from 1995-99 before taking a step back from coaching.

His coaching hiatus ended in 2008 when he took the reins at Plymouth Regional High School, which prompted a return to the college ranks at Plymouth State University. He would retire to Florida in 2020, with a career overall coaching record of 227-131, including a 93-82 mark in his 11 years at PSU.

Webb was inducted into the New England Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002, the UMass Boston Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Eastern Massachusetts Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2015.

He enlightened many in whatever community he resided and at every level of play from youth lacrosse to the pro ranks.

Scott Walden, currently an assistant coach at Londonderry High School, as well as other travel programs, had his introduction to Webb as a professional athlete.

The New London native was a star attackman for the Plymouth State men’s lacrosse teams of the mid-1990s. As one of the top scorers in the nation he finished his collegiate career as Plymouth State’s all-time scoring leader before jumping to the professional ranks with the Boston Blazers, where Webb was the offensive coordinator.

That relationship blossomed into more thanks to their New Hampshire connection. Webb helped get Walden a job as a teachers aide in Nashua, while also bringing him on to coach the high school’s junior varsity team.

“That turned out to be the best thing ever for me,” Walden said. “He was definitely a mentor. He taught me so many things.

“After games we would go to the social club, and he would want to talk. We’d sit there for hours and hours just going over anything that went on in the game. We’d go through what was going on with the Nashua Blast youth teams. He was so invested in the sport and in the community.”

Walden misses those long talks. He still kicks himself for not returning that last dropped call from Webb prior to his death.

“This one is hard for me to talk about,” Walden said. “My son was getting recruited by a lot of big schools, but out of the blue, he had it in his head that he wanted to check out Plymouth because one of our club coaches is now the coach at Plymouth. So I took my son up there for an unofficial visit, just to see the school, hang out with (PSU coach) Mike (Wilus) and check out the campus.

“I took my son up Tenney Mountain just to show him something and I get a call. It was Gordie. He’s like ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ This was probably like two or three months before he passed. I told him we came up to see Mike, and he asked if Colby was thinking about going there. And literally being up on the mountain I lost service. The phone got cut out. That was the last time I got to talk to him. I should have called him back sooner, as soon as we got home. You just never know.”

One thing that was known regarding Webb, is that his love of lacrosse was just one of the roots that grew strong. Webb may be remembered most for his generosity and caring nature.

“He cared about people,” Walden said. “He was there for anyone who needed help in any way – not just in lacrosse, but in life. He wanted everyone to succeed and would do whatever he personally could to make life better for anyone he came in contact with. He always thought of all the kids and people in the community.”

Koss was one of those kids that Webb took under his wings at an early age.

Koss, a four-year starter who was an All-State and All-American senior midfielder for Nashua during that 1998 title run, learned the game from his future high school coach as a member of the original Nashua Blast youth lacrosse travel team.

“From his New Hampshire stint, I was at the very beginning all the way to the end,” Koss said. “There was so much more to our relationship than lacrosse.

“It was a lacrosse relationship turned into a lifetime, long-standing normal relationship. It shaped me from the lacrosse side to who and what my situation is today, and frankly a lot of my daily life and how I’ve become who I am.”

Koss and Gaudreau both spoke at Webb’s funeral service. For Koss, it was a full-circle moment.

“He actually eulogized my father, who passed away my senior year in high school,” said Koss, who is currently an assistant coach at Rivier University in Nashua. “Gordie gave the eulogy. I actually gave a eulogy at Gordie’s funeral. I was asked to speak and honored to do so.”

Webb’s death actually motivated Koss into his return to coaching. After stints as an assistant coach at University of New Hampshire and Oyster River Regional High School, Koss had taken a two-year break to focus on youth clinics and his Wicked Lacrosse program that closed down during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I had been flirting with getting back into coaching,” Koss said. “When he passed away, I really just said I need to get back into it. Yes, he was really instrumental in me wanting to be a coach for sure.”

Reilly isn’t surprised that in his death, Webb would still be that influence on Koss to return to the game.

“Part of it with having known and learned from Gordie that just sticks with you is just how fortunate we all are to still be part of it,” Reilly said. “Nobody has ever achieved anything in this game by themselves. It’s a team. We as a lacrosse community are a team. That’s something I think we’ve all learned from Gordie.”