By PETE SILVERMAN
The National Football League had Eddie LeBaron and Walter (Flea) Roberts. Slater Martin thrilled National Basketball Association crowds as a playmaker for Bob Pettit and Cliff Hagan. Baseball’s latest Tom Thumb was Albie Pearson. And now the National Lacrosse League has come up with an outstanding little man in its first year. He’s 5-8, 145-pound Jim Wasson, of the Philadelphia Wings.
Watching the physical abuse that’s heaped on Wasson, you’d have to say that being small is a definite disadvantage in lacrosse. Wasson is constantly being slashed, shoved and cross-checked. Jim admits he takes quite a pounding in most games, but he doesn’t agree that his size is a handicap. While bigger opponents are trying to out- muscle him, Wasson is figuring ways to outsmart them. His ducks and dekes have been leaving defenders behind all season while Jim breaks away for a solo on the goalie.
There are other advantages to being small besides maneuverability. Perhaps the most important is coming up with loose balls. Being closer to the floor, the little man has an easier time scooping the ball. Any NLL player will tell you many games are decided by which team comes up with more loose balls.
Wasson’s size did prove a disappointment for Jim in one respect, though. As most Canadian youngsters do, Jim dreamed of playing professional hockey. He played the game while growing up in Peterboro and, in juniors, was a teammate of Bob Gainey who is now with the Montreal Canadiens. After juniors, however, Wasson realized that his size ruled out a career in major league hockey.
With the decision about hockey really forced upon him, Jim had to choose what he was going to do. At the age of 20, he had finished high school and was thinking about going to college. His father suggested he delay the decision a year and join him working in the General’ Electric plant in Peterboro. That way Jim could save some money in case he did decide to continue his education. The birth of the National Lacrosse League made him abandon thoughts of going back to school.
Jim had been competing in lacrosse since he was eight years old. But while Canadians could dream of playing professional hockey, they really had no idea that lacrosse would also become a major league pro sport. Wasson is feeling right at home with the Wings. His coach, Bobby Allan, is from Peterboro as is another teammate whom he’s played lacrosse with for the past 15 years. Jim recalls the first year he entered organized lacrosse he was put on the same team with a big, gangly kid. The two never have been separated since. That big, gangly kid has grown up to be 6-6 John Grant. Philadelphia fans are being treated to the incongruous sight Peterboro fans enjoyed for years … the smallish Wasson chinning himself up on Big John to celebrate another goal.