John S. Emmer is a former 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 extensiv ...

coach. He retired in 2005 with 326 wins, making him the lacrosse coach with the most wins in NCAA history. This mark was surpassed in 2008 by

Jim Berkman James Berkman is an American college lacrosse coach. He has served as the head coach at Salisbury University since 1989, after spending one season as the head coach at State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam) in 1985. Salisbury has w ...

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

Salisbury University Salisbury University is a public university in Salisbury, Maryland. Founded in 1925, Salisbury is a member of the University System of Maryland, with a fall 2016 enrollment of 8,748. Salisbury University offers 42 distinct undergraduate and 14 ...

. Emmer is one of only two head coaches to have led three different teams to the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament.

Early life

Emmer grew up in

Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

and attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, where he played football as a wide receiver and lacrosse as a

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He lettered in lacrosse three times from 1965 to 1967. 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 ...

named him to the All-American second team. He was voted most valuable player by his teammates and made an appearance in the

North-South Senior All-Star Game ''North-South'' ( hy, Հյուսիս-Հարավ) or ''Four Buddies and the Bride'' is an Armenian comedy directed by Davit Babakhanyan and Vazgen Muradyan, starring Diana Malenko, Sona Shahgeldyan and David Tovmasyan. The film was produced by ...

upon the end of his college career in 1967. Emmer was selected in the 13th round of the 1967 NFL Draft as the 327th overall pick by the New York Jets.

Coaching career

In 1970, Emmer received his first head coaching position at Cortland State. During his three-year tenure there, he posted a 32–6 record and led the Red Dragons to an appearance in the recently established NCAA tournament in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

.Emmer retires as lacrosse's winningest active coach
United States Military Academy, May 27, 2005, retrieved June 1, 2010. In 1973, Emmer took over as head coach at

Washington and Lee , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

. He led the Generals to six-straight NCAA tournament appearances between

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

and 1978. In 1973, Washington and Lee finished the regular season with a perfect 14-win mark. The Generals defeated

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

in overtime, 13–12, to advance to the semifinals, where they were beaten, 18–5, by

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 ...

.Official 2008 NCAA Men's and Women's Lacrosse Record Book
(PDF),

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

, retrieved May 30, 2010. The Generals again finished 1974 undefeated with a 15–0 record, and received a bid to the NCAA tournament. In the first round, they beat Navy, 11–9, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Johns Hopkins, 11–10. In the 1975 NCAA tournament, Washington and Lee beat Hopkins, 11–7, at

Homewood Field Homewood Field is the athletics stadium of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. History It was built in 1906 and has an official capacity of 8,500 people. The name is taken, as is that of the entire campus, from the name of the ...

to end the Blue Jays' 27-game home winning streak. The Generals then fell to Maryland, 15–5, in the semifinals. In total, Emmer led Washington and Lee to ten NCAA tournaments.Jack Emmer
, Washington and Lee University, retrieved June 1, 2010. In 1984, he moved to the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

to take over the Army lacrosse team. At West Point, he led the Black Knights to eight NCAA tournament appearances, which set a school record for a head coach. He also became one of the only two head coaches to lead three different teams to the NCAA semifinals. Under Emmer, Army won ten outright or shared Patriot League conference championships, including five straight from 1991 to 1995, over which period the Black Knights posted a perfect 25–0 conference record. In all, Emmer recorded a 70–12 Patriot League mark. Emmer was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1998. In 2002, he coached an all-star collegiate United States national team to the gold medal in the

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as ...

Perth, Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. In 2003, Emmer broke the NCAA record for wins by a coach, and received the Howdy Myers Man of the Year Award. Emmer retired from coaching after the 2005 season in order to spend more time with his family in

Skaneateles, New York Skaneateles ( , ) is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. The population was 7,112 at the 2020 census. The name is from the Iroquois term for the adjacent ''Skaneateles'' Lake, which means "long lake." The town is on the western ...

. Emmer 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 camp ...

in 2005.John "Jack" Emmer
, National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, retrieved June 1, 2010. He has also been inducted into the

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

, and Long Island Metro Area

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 ...

chapters Halls of Fame.

Personal life

Emmer and his wife, Joan, have two children, a son and daughter. His son, Patrick, plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

at Bryant University under head coach

Mike Pressler Mike Pressler (born February 27, 1960) is an American lacrosse coach. He has been the head coach of the Bryant Bulldogs since 2007. He served as the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils for 16 seasons until he was forced to resign during the Duke l ...

, who played for Emmer at Washington & Lee.# 44 - Patrick Emmer
Bryant University, retrieved May 24, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emmer, Jack Living people Army Black Knights men's lacrosse coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's lacrosse players People from Mineola, New York Year of birth missing (living people)