TEWAARATON FOUNDATION TO RECOGNIZE LEGENDS GARY AND PAUL GAIT AND SPIRIT OF TEWAARATON HONOREES PAUL AND MIKE RABIL ON MAY 29
- corinne594
- May 28
- 4 min read
WASHINGTON DC, May 28 – The Tewaaraton Foundation is pleased to be recognizing 2025 Tewaaraton Legends Gary and Paul Gait and 2025 Spirit of Tewaaraton honorees Paul and Mike Rabil at the 25th Tewaaraton Ceremony Presented by Stifel, May 29 at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
The Tewaaraton Legends Award annually honors recipients who played college lacrosse prior to 2001, the first year in which the Tewaaraton Award was presented. The Spirit of Tewaaraton is awarded to individuals who embody the timeless values of courage and teamwork, and have made significant contributions to the sport of lacrosse.
“To be able to honor icons of the game like the Gait and Rabil brothers in our 25th year is truly special,” said Andy Phillips, President of the Tewaaraton Foundation. “Their extraordinary contributions have shaped the sport across generations, both on and off the field. Gary and Paul Gait revolutionized the game with their innovation and dominance, while Paul and Mike Rabil are redefining the pro game and expanding lacrosse’s reach and impact through their founding and scaling of the Premier Lacrosse League. All four game-changing figures exemplify the spirit, skill, and legacy the Tewaaraton Award was created to celebrate."
Gary Gait is considered by many to be the greatest lacrosse player of all-time, and his twin brother Paul is in the same conversation. Both were three-time NCAA Champions at Syracuse University, losing just one game from 1988 to 1990. Gary was a two-time winner of the USILA Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award, and was the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player in 1990, eventually being entered into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2005 while winning titles in the National Lacrosse League (1991, 1994, 1995), Major League Lacrosse (2001, 2002, 2005), Mann Cup (1991, 1997, 1999), Heritage Cup (2004), and the 2006 ILF World Championship with Team Canada. Gary just finished his fourth season as Roy D. Simmons Jr. Head Men's Lacrosse Coach at his alma mater.
Paul Gait was a three-time first-team All-American at Syracuse and the 1989 NCAA
Championship Most Outstanding Player, joining the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2005
after playing in four world championships with Team Canada, earning first-team All-Pro honors eight times and being named the 2002 NLL MVP and also winning an MLL title with Long Island as Championship Game MVP in 2001. Paul Gait is the founder of leading manufacturer Gait Lacrosse.
Paul Rabil co-founded the Premier Lacrosse League with his brother Mike in 2018 after a legendary playing career that included two NCAA titles and four All-American awards with Johns Hopkins, three professional championships, and two gold medals as a member of Team USA. As a pro, Paul was a 10-time All-Star and two-time league MVP, after twice being a Tewaaraton Trophy Finalist as a Blue Jay. Paul is currently the Co-Founder and President of the PLL, while Mike is Co-Founder and CEO after a successful career as an entrepreneur and investor.
Tewaaraton Legend recipients are chosen on the basis that their collegiate performance would have earned them a Tewaaraton Trophy, had the award existed when they played. The previous Legends Award winners are Syracuse’s Jim Brown (2011), Cornell’s Eamon McEneaney (2012), Johns Hopkins’ Joe Cowan (2013), Navy’s Jimmy Lewis (2014), Syracuse’s Brad Kotz (2015), Maryland’s Frank Urso (2016), Penn State’s Candace Finn Rocha (2016), Army’s Peter Cramblet (2017), Virginia’s Cherie Greer (2017), Johns Hopkins’ Larry Quinn (2018), Temple’s Mandee Moore O’Leary (2018), North Carolina’s Tom Sears (2019), University of Delaware’s Karen Borbee (2019), Johns Hopkins’ Dave Pietramala (2022), Northwestern’s Kelly Amonte Hiller (2022), Maryland’s Doug Schreiber (2023) and Temple’s Kathleen Geiger (2023), and Hobarts Bill Miller (2024) and Harvard’s Francesca DenHartog (2024).
Past Spirit of Tewaaraton recipients include Dick Edell, Diane Geppi-Aikens, Sid Jamieson, A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard, Roy Simmons Jr., Richie Moran, Bob Scott, Brendan Looney, Oren Lyons, Tina Sloan Green, George Boiardi, Welles Crowther, Feffie Barnhill, Bill Belichick, Alf Jacques, and Chris Sailer.
The Tewaaraton recipients will be chosen at the conclusion of the 2025 college lacrosse season by selection committees comprised of premier college coaches who are appointed annually by the Tewaaraton Foundation. The Finalists will be honored and this year’s recipients announced live May 29 at the Tewaaraton Ceremony at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. To attend this exciting event, please visit: https://TEWAARATON2025.eventbrite.com
For more information on the Tewaaraton Foundation, visit tewaaraton.com. Like and follow The Tewaaraton Foundation at facebook.com/tewaaraton, x.com/tewaaraton,
About The Tewaaraton Foundation
The Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the preeminent lacrosse award, annually honoring the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. Founded at the University Club of Washington, D.C., the award was first presented in 2001 with permission from the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders. “Tewaaraton” is the Mohawk word for lacrosse, and The Tewaaraton Award symbolizes lacrosse’s Native American Heritage. The Tewaaraton Foundation ensures the integrity of the selection process and advances the mission of the Foundation. Each year, The Tewaaraton Foundation presents two scholarships to students from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy – the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations.
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Media Contact Sarah Aschenbach
The Tewaaraton Foundation
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