(Volume 1, Number 3—June 1975)
by Annette E. Cuomo
Many descriptions of Daryl McColl have reached this writer’s ears. Among them: “he’s cute, he’s shy, he’s good looking, he’s nice, he’s funny, etc., etc.” Daryl McColl is a lot of things, but most of all he’s Daryl McColl. Now for a rundown of #14’s stats:
He’s 5’11½” tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and was born in New Westminster, British Columbia on March 14, 1953. This next statement may not be very important to you readers, but to Daryl McColl, the fact that he wears an Xtra Large T shirt is very important.
Daryl is currently a student at Simon Fraser University where he has one more year before receiving his degree in Economics and Commerce.
He played junior lacrosse for the New Westminster Salmonbellies for six years where he was on the same line as Rick Boucher for two of those years. Daryl also played with Long Island’s Chuck Medhurst for three years. Other junior and senior lacrosse teammates included Al Lethwaite, Ken Winzoski and Eddie Goss.
Daryl enjoys being part of the Wings’ roster and is happy to have been given the opportunity to play. “As long as Ferg takes a vacation I get to play,” says Daryl. He finds it hard to believe he gets so much attention because he doesn’t play that often. It has become kind of a joke with Daryl that he should have so much “notoriety.” “I hope to eventually work my way onto a regular line (so I can be deserving of all my notoriety).” “My first goal is going to be a backhander—I hope! I get a case of beer from Shipley if I do.” Since this interview took place, Daryl scored his first goal and in the same game he scored his second goal, at home, in front of all his fans and all his friends, and Steve Shipley, but, it wasn’t a backhander. It was just a plan old ‘beat the goalie’ kind of goal. But it was his first!
Upon looking into the league and other players Daryl had this to say, “John Davis is one of the best offensive players in the game. Dave Durante is a real hustler. He does everything on the floor. He always gets into the action. He is a good all around player…To me, John Grant is one of the best in the game today…I feel that in the dressing room and on the floor Carm is a real inspiration to the whole team…Was[son] and Terry both tried to help me ever since I came to Philly. They are constantly giving me tips on how to improve my game.” Being a nice person Daryl doesn’t like people who are always trying to hurt someone like Gordie Keates does. Nor does he like Jerry Pinder who is a backjumper. “He jumped Carm from behind and broke Pete’s jaw. I don’t like that at all.” There isn’t much that can happen that will amaze Daryl. He’s seen and met all kinds of people, especially in lacrosse. “My coach in my last year of senior was crazy,” says Daryl. “We only lost a few games out of [a] 28 game schedule. He came walking in the dressing room once with a 6 foot tie on. His name was Ron Hemmerling. He didn’t have much to do as a coach, he had so much talent on that team. I guess he could have afforded to be crazy.”
When the season ends, Daryl will probably go to the Bahamas, then he wants to come back to Phila., get a car and drive home. In January he plans to go back to school. He’ll either come back to Philly late for the season or leave school a little earlier. Since it will be too late to go back to school in September, Daryl may take some night courses here next season to work toward his degree.
Daryl McColl enjoys being part of all that’s happening here. He like the Philadelphia and New Jersey area and is amazed by the fans. “The fans are great here,” says Daryl, “they really get behind you…but they don’t hesitate to boo you when you’re playing badly. In Canada the people are so into lacrosse that they are almost bored. Everybody’s kids play lacrosse at home. People here don’t know t that well, so they’re really into the game.”
“I like it here,” says Daryl, “I only hope I get to stay and play more.” We hope you stay too, Daryl and that case of beer just might come your way when you score your first backhanded goal.