56 Facts About Lyle Thompson

Lyle Thompson was born on September 9,1992 and is a Haudenosaunee professional lacrosse player from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Nation.

Lyle Thompson competes internationally in both indoor lacrosse for Haudenosaunee men's national indoor lacrosse team, and outdoor lacrosse for the Haudenosaunee men's national outdoor lacrosse team.

Lyle Thompson played lacrosse in college at the University at Albany.

Lyle Thompson is widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time, and the greatest lacrosse player of his generation.

Lyle Thompson is renowned for his creativity, extraordinary stick skills, vision and keen playmaking ability.

Lyle Thompson pioneered backhand play, especially in shooting, known as the shovel shot, which is the salient component of his signature move, the Deyhaus Dunk.

Together, the Lyle Thompson collective has popularized the traditional Indigenous American style of playing lacrosse, involving a more inspired, freestyle, versatile approach that incorporates a wider variety of stick handling, passing and shooting techniques, previously considered more unorthodox in mainstream codified lacrosse.

Lyle Thompson is an active humanitarian, using his platform for positive change, and has won humanitarian awards multiple times for these ventures.

Lyle Thompson grew up on the Native American reservation, Onondaga Nation, NY.

Lyle Thompson is the second youngest of the five children of Jerome "Ji" Thompson Sr.

Lyle Thompson began playing lacrosse from a very early age as lacrosse carries spiritual and cultural significance with the Onondaga nation.

Lyle Thompson had not grown up doing strength training, and developed those attributes later in his career.

Also, the Lyle Thompson brothers have an extensive lacrosse heritage, as their father played lacrosse and their grandfather played lacrosse.

Lyle Thompson played with the 1990 Iroquois Nationals international lacrosse team.

Lyle Thompson played a total of five years of high lacrosse, as he was on Salmon River's high school varsity team as an eighth grader.

Lyle Thompson played for Salmon River High School during his eighth grade year.

Lyle Thompson scored 50 points that season before he injured his collarbone, shortening his season.

Lyle Thompson received first-team Times All-North honors and was named the section's most valuable player as a freshman.

Lyle Thompson played for LaFayette High School for his sophomore and junior years.

Lyle Thompson had a breakout performance in the state title game that year, scoring five goals.

Lyle Thompson was awarded first-team All-CNY honors for the second time.

Lyle Thompson attended college at the University at Albany, majoring in sociology, although he initially pursued an art major as he has a passion for drawing.

Lyle Thompson committed to play for the Albany Great Danes men's lacrosse team under head coach, Scott Marr.

Lyle Thompson is widely considered the greatest lacrosse player in University at Albany history and one of the greatest college lacrosse players of all time.

Lyle Thompson has been referred to as one of the greatest college athletes of his generation.

Lyle Thompson is the only college men's lacrosse player to win the award twice consecutively, and one of only two to win the award twice, the other being Mikey Powell.

Lyle Thompson set a new career points record of 400 points, which was later broken by Chris Gray, who scored 401 points.

Lyle Thompson is widely regarded as one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time.

ESPN lacrosse analyst, Paul Carcaterra, has described Lyle Thompson as being on his 'Mount Rushmore' of greatest lacrosse players, alongside attackman Mikey Powell, midfielder Gary Gait and defenseman David Pietramala.

Lyle Thompson was drafted as the top overall pick in the 2015 Collegiate Draft by the Florida Launch; his brother Miles was drafted by the Launch the previous year.

Lyle Thompson had 22 goals and 16 assists in his first season in Major League Lacrosse.

Lyle Thompson is an attackman for Cannons Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League.

Lyle Thompson was not initially signed to PLL when it started in 2019 because he had signed a long-term contract with the MLL in 2017 until the two leagues merged in 2020.

Lyle Thompson opted to take a sabbatical from the PLL for the 2023 and 2024 season.

Lyle Thompson stated that he wants to focus on himself, his family and his community.

On September 28,2015, Lyle Thompson was drafted first overall in the 2015 NLL draft by the Georgia Swarm.

In 2017, Lyle Thompson was named both league MVP and Championship MVP as the Swarm won their first NLL title.

Lyle Thompson has won the NLL Sportsmanship award multiple times.

Lyle Thompson reported that two fans seated behind the Georgia Swarm bench stated they were going to scalp him.

Lyle Thompson tweeted that he had not heard discriminatory hostility like that since he was in high school.

Lyle Thompson played for the Six Nations Chiefs of the Major Series Lacrosse League in the 2023 season, winning that season's MVP award and the championship.

Lyle Thompson played for the Six Nations Chiefs of the Major Series Lacrosse League in the 2024 season.

Lyle Thompson played at the forward position for the Haudenosaunee men's national lacrosse team at the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Lyle Thompson played at the forward position for the Haudenosaunee men's national lacrosse team at the 2019 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship.

Lyle Thompson played at the attack position for the Haudenosaunee men's national lacrosse team in the 2014 World Lacrosse Championship.

Lyle Thompson played at the attack position for the Haudenosaunee men's national lacrosse team in the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship in Israel.

Lyle Thompson played at the attack position for the Haudenosaunee men's national lacrosse team in the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship in San Diego, California.

The Lyle Thompson brothers founded the non-profit philanthropic organization, the 4 The Future Foundation, which aims to help Indigenous and underserved kids grow and thrive.

Lyle Thompson was on the Sports Illustrated cover to raise awareness for the movement.

Lyle Thompson was present at Dakota Access Pipeline protests in support of the Standing Rock Reservation.

Lyle Thompson is a devout constituent of Native American religion, specifically, Haudenosaunee religion, which emphasizes the Great Spirit, often conceptualized in Haudenosaunee tradition as a single creation entity, referred to as 'the Creator'.

Lyle Thompson wears his hair in a braid in accordance with Haudenosaunee tradition.

Lyle Thompson is bilingual, fluent in both English and Onondaga language.

Lyle Thompson has emphasized that he adheres to the Haudenosaunee religious tradition of playing lacrosse primarily to entertain the Creator.

Lyle Thompson has expressed concerns about the presence of commercialism in youth sports and a fixated win-at-all costs mentality, which can be counterproductive to the deeper value of participation in sports.

Lyle Thompson is married to Amanda Longboat and together they have four daughters and one son.