Wall Street's Lacrosse Mafia

For a small, mainly East Coast sport whose exposure is largely confined to ESPN’s higher multiples, collegiate lacrosse has managed to draw more than its fair share of unwanted national attention. In 2006 members of the men’s team at Duke University were accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer. And last month, George W. Huguely V, a former player for the University of Virginia, was found guilty of second-degree murder for the death of his girlfriend, Yeardley Love—a UVA lacrosse player.

Such incidents have sullied the game’s reputation among the general public, yet having lacrosse on a résumé is a major advantage to grads entering the world of finance. There are more than 600 varsity men’s and women’s U.S. collegiate lacrosse programs. Unlike football or basketball, college lacrosse doesn’t offer the prospect of a lucrative athletic career. (The average annual salary in the two established professional lacrosse leagues is less than $20,000.) But it has long been something of a farm system for bankers. Describing his players to a Canadian newspaper in 1879, a Baltimore Athletic Club lacrosse coach said, “The members are principally sons of wealthy merchants, with a good sprinkling of merchants themselves.” Five generations later, the demographics of the sport—invented by the Iroquois and popularized by Canadians—have hardly changed.