Charles E. Marsters (9 June 1883 - December 1962) was an American

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

player and proponent. He helped promote the sport throughout New England and served in the

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the varsi ...

(USILA) in various executive capacities. In 1957, he was inducted into the

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood campu ...

Biography

Marsters attended

Poly Prep Country Day School Poly Prep Country Day School (commonly known as Poly Prep) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational day school with two campuses in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, United States. The Middle School (5th to 8th grades) and Upper ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where he played basketball and competed in

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

. He graduated in 1902. He then attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and played freshman lacrosse in his first year. Marsters played lacrosse on the varsity team for the remaining three years, and spent one season as the team captain. He was accepted into the Ivy Club as a sophomore and elected as its president during his senior year. He graduated from Harvard in 1907 with a Bachelor of Science degree.Charles E. Marsters
, National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, US Lacrosse, retrieved 15 April 2015. (Note: Link directs to main page of inductees; Individual biographies cannot be directly hyper-linked) In 1913, with Paul Gustafson, he helped found the Boston Lacrosse Club, and for sixteen years played on the team at the point position and acted as its manager. After that, he coached the team for some years and served as the club president. Marsters helped promote the formation of a lacrosse team at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1915, and arrange for former Crescent Athletic Club player Dr. William Madden to coach the fledgling team for two weeks. He enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was commissioned as an ensign through an officer training school and was stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Between 1926 and 1930, he promoted the formation of teams at

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

, MIT,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. Alongside Tom Dent in 1935, he was a co-founder of the New England Intercollegiate Lacrosse League (NEILL). Marsters served as the

(USILA) vice president from 1907 to 1908, and president from 1909 to 1910 and 1917 to 1918. He also served on the All-American committee, and he was on the USILA executive board from 1949 to 1952.Past Officers
(PDF), United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association, retrieved May 19, 2009. He received the 1951 USILA Award for the individual who had done the most to promote the sport over the past year. Marsters was inducted into the

US Lacrosse USA Lacrosse is the national governing body of men and women's lacrosse in the United States. It provides a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game and has more than 450,000 members throughout the United States, and offers programs a ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

as a player in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsters, Charles E. Sportspeople from New York City American lacrosse players Harvard Crimson men's lacrosse players Harvard University alumni United States Navy sailors United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War I 1883 births 1962 deaths Poly Prep alumni