Down Memory Lane - Terry Sanderson
Down Memory Lane Articles - by Stan Shillington


Terry Sanderson, along with his clan and cohorts, roam the world of lacrosse in search of glamour and gold.

They have an insatiable thirst for success - a simple taste of victory only whets their craving for further supremacy.

Each season brings forth another booty chest of personal and team awards.

The Brothers Sanderson - Terry, Shane, Lindsay and Philip - and first mate Bob McMahon have laboured long and hard to cast their shadows of influence in the Ontario Lacrosse centres of Brampton and Orangeville.

Their winning magic has spread Canada and, if past prosperity holds true, their invasion onto the American scene will bring them international fame.

The Sanderson understanding of lacrosse was a hard-earned study of the game for they had little or no minor league grounding in the fundamentals. All natives of Nova Scotia, the Sanderson boys moved with their family to Brampton in October 1966.

"Until then, we didn't know anything about lacrosse", recalled Terry. "But we lived just down the street from the Brampton arena which they had to leave open all day so the air could circulate. We got ourselves some lacrosse sticks and used to fool around inside the arena.

The following year, the family moved thirty minutes down the road to Orangeville where they began forging the lacrosse foundation that would lead to future national titles.

Phillip, born in 1950, played no minor lacrosse whatsoever but was still able to join his brothers on the 1978 Orangeville Major league team, accumulating 12 points in 24 games. Terry, two years younger, played on year of Intermediate and two years of Junior "C" before launching a 277-game Senior A and Pro career with Fergus, Syracuse, Quebec, Victoria, Orangeville, Brampton and Owen Sound, scoring 350 goals and 379 assists for 729 points. Lindsay, born in 1954, also began organized lacrosse at the Intermediate level, moving later into Senior A with Orangeville, Brampton and Owen Sound for 160 goals and 146 assists in 21 games. Shane is the youngest, born in 1956, he moved from Bantam through the minor ranks to Senior A with Orangeville, Brampton and Owen Sound, picking up 119 goals and 190 assists in 115 games. All four also spent several seasons with Orangeville in the Ontario Senior B League.

Having studied the game to overcome their lack of minor league grounding, the Sandersons began spending more time coaching, managing and refereeing at the minor league levels. Soon they extended their expertise up several levels to Junior A and the OLA's Major Senior A.

Undoubtedly, Terry's success has been outstanding. He coached the Orangeville Junior A Club between 1993 through 1996, taking three Minto Cup titles in four consecutive attempts. He then took over the coaching reins of the Niagara Falls major club in 1997 followed by similar chores with the 1998 and 1999 Brampton. His teams went to the Mann Cup playdowns all three seasons, winning the championships in 1998.

Shane, Brampton's current general manager, and had the task of taking a depleted Excelsior lineup - many high scoring veterans had transferred to Six Nations in the mid-1990's and building it through skillful drafting to the level of excellence it now enjoys. McMahon also remains with the Brampton team as co-coach with Terry.

Lindsay was an assistant coach with Terry's Junior "A" Orangeville champions between 1993 and 1996, taking over the head coach job when his brother moved into senior company. Phillip, currently assisting Lindsay with the Junior A team, has a Founders Cup ring to his credit as an assistant coach with the 1989 and 1990 Junior B Orangeville club.

Resting on their laurels is foreign to the Sandersons. Terry and McMahon have taken over the coaching duties for the new Albany Attack entry in the 2000 National Lacrosse League season.

But wait - there are more Sandersons on the horizon if or when the four brothers fade into retirement.

Lindsay's sons and are regulars with Brampton and Peterborough respectively; Terry's offspring accumulated 737 points in 166 career games with the Orangeville Junior A Northmen before joining the Coquitlam Adanacs of the Western Lacrosse Association for the 1999 season. Phillip has two sons, playing with Brampton, and , a goalie with the 1999 NLL Baltimore entry and a member of Canada's National Field Lacrosse team. And, if that's not enough, Phillip's son Dustin and Lindsay's son Nathan are two up-and-coming Bantam level stars.