Michael "Mike" G. French (born May 13, 1953) is a former three-time All-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 ...

player at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

from 1974 to 1976, teaming with fellow lacrosse Hall of Fame members

Eamon McEneaney Eamon James McEneaney (December 23, 1954 – September 11, 2001) was an All-American lacrosse player at Cornell University from 1975 to 1977 and later an employee of Cantor Fitzgerald who died during the September 11 attacks. Lacrosse career McE ...

, Dan Mackesey, Bill Marino, Tom Marino, Bob Hendrickson, Chris Kane, and Richie Moran to lead the Cornell Big Red to the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship in 1976. French was co-owner, along with

Russ Cline Russ Cline was a co-founder of the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League (now called the National Lacrosse League) on March 13, 1986. Russ was President/Owner of the Philadelphia Wings organization. They actually Operated as The Major Indoor Lacrosse Le ...

and

Chris Fritz Chris Fritz was a co-founder of the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League (now called the National Lacrosse League) on May 13, 1987. Fritz was the league's first President. In June 2005, it was announced that Chris would be inducted into the National Lacro ...

, as well as Executive Vice-President of the NLL's Philadelphia Wings.

Cornell Big Red

French is ranked in the top 20 all-time in NCAA Division I scoring with 296 career points, 4th in career points-per-game behind fellow Canadian Stan Cockerton, and 7th in career goals. French's top season was 1976 when he scored 65 goals and handed out 40 assists for 105 total points in 16 games. French and McEneaney led Cornell to one of the great seasons in college lacrosse history in 1976, with an unbeaten record and a 16-13 overtime victory over

Frank Urso Frank Urso (born 1954) is a former American lacrosse player and current high school lacrosse coach, best known for his collegiate career at the University of Maryland from 1973 to 1976. During those four years, Maryland won two national champion ...

and the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in the NCAA Championship game. This was the first NCAA lacrosse championship to receive national exposure. With the game being decided in overtime and French scoring seven goals,

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Foo ...

doing the play-by-play called the finals the most exciting sporting event he had ever seen. During French's career at Cornell, the Big Red went to three straight NCAA tournaments, shutting out Washington and Lee 14-0 in one tournament game, and won 43 games while losing only 4. He was named the USILA player of the year in 1976. French was also a member of the

Sphinx Head The Sphinx Head Society is the oldest senior honor society at Cornell University. Sphinx Head recognizes Cornell senior men and women who have demonstrated respectable strength of character on top of a dedication to leadership and service at Corn ...

society while at Cornell.

National Lacrosse League

French played for the

Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The N ...

Philadelphia Wings in 1987, leading the league in goals during its inaugural season. He was named the team's general manager in 1988, guiding the Wings to a 33-17 regular season mark and a 7-2 record in the postseason, with three championships over seven seasons. French also coached the Wings for one season in 1994, guiding them to a 6 and 2 record as well as the MILL title. He had been with the Wings since their inception in 1987 and joined the team's ownership group prior to the start of the 1998 season. French is currently part of the ownership group of the

New England Black Wolves The New England Black Wolves were a professional box lacrosse team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. They were members of the East Division of the National Lacrosse League and began play in the winter of 2014–2015 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Un ...

which took over the retired Wings franchise.

Canadian Lacrosse

Mike began playing box lacrosse in Niagara-on-the-Lake and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, and did not play field lacrosse until his freshman season at Cornell. French captained the Canadian National Team to the 1978

World Lacrosse Championships 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 a ...

upset over a heavily favored U.S. National Team. The World championships have been won by the American team every year except 1978, 2006 and 2014. In the 1978 title game, the Canadian team rebounded from a 28-4 loss to the Americans in an early round game to beat them 17-16 in overtime for the World title.

Post playing career

French 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 1991, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001, and the NLL Hall of Fame in 2007. French is one of only a few members of both the Canadian and US Lacrosse Halls of Fame. French is currently one of three Partners for

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

LLP Hospitality & Leisure Advisory practice. French is also an investor in Baggataway Tavern, located in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Statistics

Cornell University

:^'' 11th in Division I career goals :^'' 4th in Division I career points-per-game ----

Philadelphia Wings

----

OLA/WLA/MSL statistics

:^'' Top Scorer In O.L.A. Junior B Western Division - 1971, 1972 :^'' Second All-Time in Career O.L.A. Junior B Regular Season Points

References

External links

NLL writeup

Wings bio

Awards

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Mike 1953 births Living people Lacrosse forwards Canadian expatriate lacrosse people in the United States Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian lacrosse players Philadelphia Wings players Cornell Big Red men's lacrosse players 1976 in lacrosse National Lacrosse League owners