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Cultural Conversations: Lyle Thompson and the Medicine Game
10/9/2023 12:06:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse, Women's Lacrosse, Athletics
DURHAM – In conjunction with Native American Heritage Month in November, Duke University and Duke Athletics have come together to host Haudenosaunee professional lacrosse player Lyle Thompson for a conversation about Native American culture and the sport of lacrosse.
Spearheaded by Dr. Larissa Carneiro, Ph.D. from Duke's Department of Religious Studies, Duke is excited to welcome Thompson to Duke's campus, Nov. 9, for a discussion about Native American history and culture and "The Medicine Game". Joining Thompson on the panel will be Duke men and women's lacrosse head coaches John Danowski and Kerstin Kimel, Dr. Courtney Lewis of Duke's Department of Cultural Anthropology and Carneiro.
The event is open to the general public and will take place in The Champions Club inside Cameron Indoor Stadium from 5-6 p.m. Those planning to attend must register here. Questions in advance are welcome.
Lewis is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and became a faculty member at Duke in 2022. She teaches American Indian Nations Today and American Indians Go Graphic. Carneiro, starting at Duke as a visiting professor in 2017, currently serves as an instructor of Religious Studies and taught a Religion and Sport class this past spring.
Hailing from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Confederacy of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Thompson played college lacrosse at the University at Albany. In 2014, Thompson set the NCAA single-season record for points with 128 en route to sharing the Tewaaraton Award given to the nation's top player with his brother, Miles Thompson. The duo teamed up to lead the Great Danes to the NCAA semifinals that season.
The following season, Lyle won a second Tewaaraton Award to become the first male player in history to win the Tewaaraton Award in consecutive years. His 400 career points currently rank second in NCAA history.
After graduating from Albany in 2015, Thompson went on to star in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) and the National Lacrosse League (NLL). He was the top pick in both the 2015 MLL and NLL drafts and helped lead the Georgia Swarm to its first NLL Championship in 2017. Scoring a career-best 116 points for the Swarm that season, Thompson was voted the league's Most Valuable Player Award and earned the Championship MVP honor.
In the outdoor game, he led the Chesapeake Bayhawks to the 2019 MLL Championship, scoring 46 goals and dishing 27 assists for 73 points. Thompson joined the Boston Cannons of the Premier Lacrosse League in 2021. In his second season in the PLL he set a league record for most points in a season with 44.
Thompson also has shined on the international stage, leading the Iroquois men's national team to third place at the 2014 and 2018 World Lacrosse Championships. This past summer, he captured a third bronze medal with the Haudenosaunee at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championships.
Off the field, Thompson is an active humanitarian, using his platform for positive change, and has won humanitarian awards multiple times for these ventures. Among these pursuits are his participation in the #everychildmatters movement and spreading awareness about the atrocities of the residential schools that were designed to indoctrinate Indigenous children in-to Christian Canadian culture.
#GoDuke
Spearheaded by Dr. Larissa Carneiro, Ph.D. from Duke's Department of Religious Studies, Duke is excited to welcome Thompson to Duke's campus, Nov. 9, for a discussion about Native American history and culture and "The Medicine Game". Joining Thompson on the panel will be Duke men and women's lacrosse head coaches John Danowski and Kerstin Kimel, Dr. Courtney Lewis of Duke's Department of Cultural Anthropology and Carneiro.
The event is open to the general public and will take place in The Champions Club inside Cameron Indoor Stadium from 5-6 p.m. Those planning to attend must register here. Questions in advance are welcome.
Lewis is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and became a faculty member at Duke in 2022. She teaches American Indian Nations Today and American Indians Go Graphic. Carneiro, starting at Duke as a visiting professor in 2017, currently serves as an instructor of Religious Studies and taught a Religion and Sport class this past spring.
Hailing from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Confederacy of the Six Nations of the Grand River, Thompson played college lacrosse at the University at Albany. In 2014, Thompson set the NCAA single-season record for points with 128 en route to sharing the Tewaaraton Award given to the nation's top player with his brother, Miles Thompson. The duo teamed up to lead the Great Danes to the NCAA semifinals that season.
The following season, Lyle won a second Tewaaraton Award to become the first male player in history to win the Tewaaraton Award in consecutive years. His 400 career points currently rank second in NCAA history.
After graduating from Albany in 2015, Thompson went on to star in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) and the National Lacrosse League (NLL). He was the top pick in both the 2015 MLL and NLL drafts and helped lead the Georgia Swarm to its first NLL Championship in 2017. Scoring a career-best 116 points for the Swarm that season, Thompson was voted the league's Most Valuable Player Award and earned the Championship MVP honor.
In the outdoor game, he led the Chesapeake Bayhawks to the 2019 MLL Championship, scoring 46 goals and dishing 27 assists for 73 points. Thompson joined the Boston Cannons of the Premier Lacrosse League in 2021. In his second season in the PLL he set a league record for most points in a season with 44.
Thompson also has shined on the international stage, leading the Iroquois men's national team to third place at the 2014 and 2018 World Lacrosse Championships. This past summer, he captured a third bronze medal with the Haudenosaunee at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championships.
Off the field, Thompson is an active humanitarian, using his platform for positive change, and has won humanitarian awards multiple times for these ventures. Among these pursuits are his participation in the #everychildmatters movement and spreading awareness about the atrocities of the residential schools that were designed to indoctrinate Indigenous children in-to Christian Canadian culture.
#GoDuke
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