1. Gary Charles Gait was born on April 5,1967 and is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player and currently the head coach of the men's lacrosse team at Syracuse University, where he played the sport collegiately.
44 Facts About Gary Gait
1. 2.
Gary Gait played collegiately for the Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse team and professionally in the indoor National Lacrosse League and the outdoor MLL, while representing Canada at the international level.
3.
Gary Gait holds the Syracuse career goals record at 192 and the single-season goals record at 70, an NCAA record until 2008.
4.
Gary Gait played in the NLL for 17 years, winning Rookie of the Year in 1991, earning league MVP honors for five straight years, from 1995 to '99 and winning All-Pro honors each season.
5.
Gary Gait led the league in points and goals seven times, won three league championships and finished his indoor career with 1,091 points, a league record at the time.
6.
Gary Gait played five seasons in MLL from 2001 to 2005, winning the league title three times and co-MVP honors in 2005.
7.
Gary Gait helped Canada win the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, the country's first world championship since 1978, by scoring four goals in the final against the United States.
8.
Gary Gait is widely considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time.
9.
Gary Gait graduated as Syracuse University's all-time goal leader with 192 career goals.
10.
Gary Gait led the Orange to three NCAA DI Championships and was named the NCAA Player of the Year in 1988 and 1990 and the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament in 1990.
11.
The Gary Gait twins are widely known for popularizing innovative plays such as behind-the-back passes and shots and the "Air Gary Gait," an acrobatic scoring move where they would jump from behind the goal crease and score a goal in mid-air by dunking the ball over the top goal crossbar and land on the opposite side of the crease.
12.
Gary Gait started playing in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League in 1991.
13.
Gary Gait was drafted by the Detroit Turbos who got both Gait brothers in a slightly controversial double-pick.
14.
Gary Gait played with Detroit for one more season before him and his brother were both traded to the Philadelphia Wings in 1993.
15.
Gary Gait visited the championship his first four years on the Wings and won the title twice.
16.
Gary Gait was voted league MVP in 1996 and 1997 and was crowned Championship MVP in 1995.
17.
Gary Gait was traded to Baltimore for the 1998 season so he could play closer to his home.
18.
In Gary Gait's first year on the team they went to the Championship which was a new best-of-3 style series.
19.
Gary Gait was still voted league MVP for the 1998 season for how much he helped Baltimore improve.
20.
The Baltimore Thunder re-located to become the Pittsburgh CrosseFire in 2000 and so Gary Gait moved with the franchise.
21.
Gary Gait was there for both of these season and so was his brother Paul, re-uniting them for the first time since 1994 when they both played in Philadelphia.
22.
Gary Gait was then voted into the NLL Hall of Fame along with his brother, Paul.
23.
Gary Gait returned to the NLL in 2009 when he joined the Rochester Knighthawks.
24.
Gary Gait had one of the most spectacular NLL careers of any player in league history.
25.
Gary Gait has the second most career goals of any player with 635 and the highest goals per game average in league history with 3.207 goals per game.
26.
Gary Gait is tied with his brother for the most goals in one single game, 10.
27.
Gary Gait had his number retired by Colorado and he is a member of the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame.
28.
Gary Gait played in Major League Lacrosse since its inception in 2001.
29.
In 2005, Gary Gait won the Steinfeld Cup as a player-coach.
30.
Gary Gait scored six goals in the Championship Game and was named MVP of that game as well as the season.
31.
Gary Gait initially retired from MLL play in 2005 but returned and signed with the Hamilton Nationals for their inaugural season in 2009.
32.
Gary Gait won the Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy as most valuable player of the Mann Cup as a Shamrock in 1997, and shared the most valuable player award with his brother Paul in 1999.
33.
In June 2005, Gary Gait was named head coach of his former NLL team, the Colorado Mammoth.
34.
Gary Gait became the first rookie head coach to win a championship since Tony Resch did it with the Philadelphia Wings in 1994, a team on which Gary Gait played.
35.
On February 3,2011, Gary Gait was announced as a new assistant coach for the Hamilton Nationals of Major League Lacrosse.
36.
On June 6,2021, Gary Gait was named as head coach of the Syracuse Men's Lacrosse team, replacing John Desko.
37.
Gary Gait was a member of the Canadian National Team in 1990,1994,1998,2004, and 2006.
38.
Gary Gait scored four goals in the final quarter, marking a fairytale finish to his international playing career as the World title gave him every possible major lacrosse title.
39.
Gary Gait played amateur lacrosse for the storied Mount Washington Lacrosse Club in the 1990s.
40.
Gary Gait was named NLL MVP six times, including five consecutive seasons.
41.
Gary Gait was given the NLL Sportsmanship Award twice, in 2004 and 2005.
42.
Gary Gait was named the MLL MVP his final season in 2005, sharing it with Mark Millon.
43.
Gary along with his twin brother Paul Gait were inducted into their home province's highest honour in 2011.
44.
On June 18,2022, Gary Gait was inducted into the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame as one of the eleven members of the inaugural class of inductees.