Todd Gates

Onondaga Lake Park expo promotes traditional Native American lacrosse
By Madina Toure
September 30, 2013 - 8:31pm
The first annual Haudenosaunee Wooden Stick Expo featured exhibition lacrosse games, Native American craft vendors, stick-making demonstrations, and social dancing.

Seneca Nation member Todd Gates was heartbroken when a hip replacement surgery in 2009 forced him to stop playing lacrosse for 10 years. But it was lacrosse that helped him recover.

“It was really depressing at the time,” said Gates, 53, of Buffalo and former tribal council leader for the Seneca Nation. “Lacrosse brought me back into being the guy that I thought I could be.”