Christopher G. Massey is a retired

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 ...

attackman who played professional

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initiall ...

in the

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

(MLL). He starred as a member of the

Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse The Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse team represents Princeton University in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse play. Princeton currently competes as a member of the Ivy League and plays its home games at the Class of 1952 Stadium in Princeton, New J ...

team from 1995 through 1998, where he earned three

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) All-American recognitions, four

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

championships, and three national championships. He holds the Princeton lacrosse scoring records for consecutive games with a goal and ranks second in career goals. As a professional, he paid his way through law school as the MLL's only part-time law student/lawyer. In high school he was a two-time All-American and a state champion.

Background

Massey is from Garden City, New York on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. Massey was a member of the Garden City High School

New York State Public High School Athletic Association The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is the governing body of interscholastic sports for most public schools in New York outside New York City.http://www.nysphsaa.org/ ''nysphsaa.org'', accessed 15-JAN-2008. Th ...

Class B lacrosse championship team in 1994. At Garden City, Massey was a two-time high school All-American in lacrosse.

College career

Massey was part of a trio of revered attackmen who were Princeton classmates along with

Jesse Hubbard Jesse Hubbard (born September 18, 1975) is a former professional lacrosse player who played professional box lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and professional field lacrosse in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Background Hubbard st ...

and Jon Hess. As starters, the trio of All-Americans, which retired second (Hess), third (Hubbard) and fourth (Massey) career points at Princeton, had a 43–2 record and combined for 618 points. He was a second team

USILA All-American Team The USILA All-American Team is an honor given annually to the best American men's college lacrosse players at their respective positions by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The first USILA All-Americans were named in 1922, a ...

selection in 1998 and third team selection in 1996 and 1997. He was also first team All-Ivy League in 1997 and 1998 and an honorable mention selection in 1996. The 1995 team, which earned the school's sixth consecutive NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship invitation, was Ivy League co-champion, while the 1996–1998 teams were 6–0 undefeated outright conference champions. These undefeated league champions won the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship The 1998 NCAA Division I lacrosse tournament was the 28th annual tournament hosted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the team champion of men's college lacrosse among its Division I programs, held at the end of the 199 ...

s, becoming the first team to threepeat since

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

from 1988–90 and the first to be recognized to have done so without an NCAA scandal since

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

from 1978–80. In the 1996 NCAA championship quarterfinals, he scored five goals in the 22–6 victory over Towson State. In the 1996 semifinals, he scored a game-high six goals in an 11–9 victory over

, including a key goal after Syracuse tied the score at 9. In the 1997 semifinals, he scored a game-high three goals in the 10–9 come-from-behind victory over

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, including the tenth one as they erased a 9–7 deficit. He scored three goals in the 19–7 1997 championship game victory against

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The 1997 team is regarded as the best in school history with a record number of wins during its 15–0 season. He served as co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the 1998 team, and he scored a goal during the 1998 Championship game against Maryland. Massey holds the Princeton record for consecutive games with a goal (46) and remains second to Hubbard in career goals (146 vs. 163) at Princeton.

Princeton University

Professional career

Massey played with the New York Saints during the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2000 NLL season The 2000 National Lacrosse League season is the 14th season in the NLL that began on January 7, 2000 and concluded with the championship game on May 6, 2000. The Toronto Rock defeated the Rochester Knighthawks 14-13. Kaleb Toth scored the winning ...

s. Although the MLL has many part-time players who work in other professions on off days, Massey was the first

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. Massey began his MLL career with the

Boston Cannons The Cannons Lacrosse Club are a professional men's field lacrosse team in the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) . Formerly based in Boston, Massachusetts, they played in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) as the Boston Cannons from their inaugural 2001 sea ...

during the

2001 MLL season The 2001 Major League Lacrosse season was the inaugural season of the new semi-professional men's field lacrosse league. The league began play with six founding teams: Baltimore Bayhawks, Boston Cannons, Bridgeport Barrage, Long Island Lizards, ...

after being drafted in the third round of the 2001 MLL Inaugural Team Draft. Massey joined the

New Jersey Pride The New Jersey Pride were a men's professional field lacrosse team in the Major League Lacrosse formerly based in Piscataway, New Jersey, United States from 2001-2008. Franchise history In 2001, the first year of the league’s existence, the Pr ...

later that season and played with them during the

2002 MLL season The 2002 Major League Lacrosse season was the second season of the league. The season began on June 6 and concluded with the championship game on September 1, 2002. General information Baltimore moved its home games to Ravens Stadium. New Jersey ...

as well. He then played with the

Long Island Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...

from

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

through

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

after they acquired him along with

Jay Jalbert Jay Jalbert (born October 6, 1977) is an American Hall of Fame lacrosse player who had a standout collegiate career at the University of Virginia and then went on to play professional lacrosse in Major League Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse L ...

. He finished his career at the end of the 2007 season with the

Los Angeles Riptide The Los Angeles Riptide were a lacrosse team based in Carson, California. From 2006 to 2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse and ceased operations before the 2009 season. Franchise history In March 2005, Major League Lacrosse, MLL announced ...

. Massey helped the Lizards win the 2003 MLL Steinfeld Cup championship. He works in the corporate

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

department at the New York and New Jersey offices of Bressler, Amery & Ross. After graduating from Princeton, in 1998, he started at

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

in 2001 and worked at Bressler for the first two summers. He passed the New York and New Jersey

bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associa ...

s during the

2004 MLL season The 2004 Major League Lacrosse season was the fourth season of the league. The season began on May 22 and concluded with the championship game on August 22, 2004. General information The Bridgeport Barrage relocated to Philadelphia and became th ...

and subsequently began full-time employment at Bressler in September 2004.

Personal

Massey was a regular surfer on the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

during his time at Princeton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massey, Chris Living people American lawyers American lacrosse players Boston Cannons players Brooklyn Law School alumni Lacrosse forwards New York Lizards players Los Angeles Riptide players Major League Lacrosse players National Lacrosse League players New Jersey Pride players New York Saints players Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse players Year of birth missing (living people) Garden City High School (New York) alumni Lacrosse players from New York (state) People from Garden City, New York Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York