UB's Oren Lyons Inducted into Lacrosse Hall of Fame

BUFFALO, N. Y. -- Oren R. Lyons, associate professor of American studies and director of the Native American Studies Program at the State University of New York at Buffalo, has been inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Lyons, one of six men and one woman inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, was called "a player who has made a truly great contribution to society."

The Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1957, has 201 members.

A former goalie at Syracuse University, Lyons was a two-time, third-team All-American and co-captain of the Syracuse team in 1957 and 1958. He received Syracuse's Laurie Cox Award and the Orange Key Award in 1957.

Lyons also played for the New York Lacrosse Club (1959-65), the New Jersey Lacrosse Club (1966-70) and the Onondaga Athletic Club (1970-72).

Honorary chairman of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team, he was inducted into the Syracuse University Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.

The American Lacrosse Association today awards a championship trophy in his name.

A published poet and artist, Lyons is faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation and spokesperson for the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. He has been deeply involved with issues affecting indigenous peoples around the world, representing their interests in national and international forums, including several sponsored or sanctioned by the United Nations.

In the summer of 1990, Lyons was a member of a team sent by the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Canadian government on behalf of Mohawks involved in the notorious and violent land-use dispute at Oka, Quebec. Later that year, he was named one of 80 recipients of the 1990 Ellis Island Medal of Honor presented by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), an umbrella group for 66 of the nation's ethnic heritage group.

He lives on the Onondaga reservation in Nedrow.