Native Americans began playing lacrosse as a spiritual and social activity more than 1,000 years ago. Their lacrosse sticks were made of wood and had sacred meaning. But many Indigenous stick artisans went out of business when plastic and aluminum replaced wood in the 1970s. Alfie Jacques, however, managed to stay afloat. He's crafted more than 80,000 sticks by hand, and he's one of the last people who knows how to make them this way. He is Onondaga, one of the Haudenosaunee nations that invented the game. We went to the Onondaga Nation to see how, with Alfie's help, this tradition is still standing.
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00:00Bending hickory wood is the key to crafting a traditional Native American lacrosse stick.
00:10Alfie Jacques has spent a lifetime perfecting the skill.
00:13That's beautiful. Look at that.
00:18He's one of the last people in the world who knows how to make them.
00:22I'm still working on it.
00:23He's on Ndaga, one of the Native American nations that invented lacrosse a thousand years ago.
00:36Here we go.
00:38They call the sport Dejon Chikwa Es, and they believe it was a gift from the creator.
00:45Babies sleep beside their own wooden stick from the day they're born,
00:48and players are buried with theirs when they die.
00:53And in the past five decades, there's a good chance it was made by Alfie.
00:57Most indigenous stick artisans went out of business when plastic and aluminum
01:01replaced wood in the 1970s.
01:04The market just disappeared on us.
01:07Alfie managed to stay afloat because his work was legendary.
01:11He's crafted more than 80,000 of these by hand.
01:15But in 2022, he almost had to stop for good.
01:19Well, I had cancer.
01:21And then, of course, chemo beats the crap out of you, so you don't feel good.
01:26We went to the Onondaga Nation to see how, with Alfie's help, this tradition is still standing.
01:37Go ahead, hit it.
01:38Alfie started making sticks from hickory trees with his father back in 1961.
01:44We didn't have any money to buy one.
01:46My dad said, so let's make our own.
01:51It was trial and error, right from the start.
01:55He used to chop and saw them on his own.
01:59But nowadays, his apprentice, Parker Booth, does most of the heavy work.
02:04They set the rails to dry for a month before cutting them down to size.
02:12When we filmed with Alfie in April,
02:14he was feeling strong enough to run the bandsaw on his own.
02:18But days like this are rare.
02:22Last year, he could barely walk.
02:25I wasn't going anywhere. I didn't see one lacrosse game last year.
02:27Not one.
02:29Couldn't hold my head up long enough to watch a game.
02:32Today, he's grateful for every minute he spends here.
02:45Evening the wood is crucial for the perfect bend later.
02:49This is the only time Alfie needs a measuring tool.
02:53I use calipers.
02:57I know I'm cheating.
03:01He spends about 10 minutes perfecting the thickness.
03:06Alfie's been carving since he was five years old.
03:09I got my start with wood with my grandmother.
03:12She was a basket maker.
03:14The artistic thing was in her, it was in me, it was in my father,
03:18it was in all of us in the family.
03:22Meanwhile, Parker heats their steamer to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:27Alfie's had it since the 1960s.
03:32The sticks cook for up to 40 minutes until the wood softens.
03:39Alfie tests the wood before bending
03:41because it could easily break if it's over or under steamed.
03:45If it's still stiff, it goes back in the steamer.
03:48A couple minutes.
03:50Get it back in there like that.
03:52But when it bounces, he knows it's ready.
04:02The bark holds the fibers together, keeping the wood from breaking.
04:07Today, Alfie needs Parker's help to bend the wood.
04:11But he did it on his own for decades, at times with just one arm.
04:18I like to take a piece of hickory log and turn it into a good stick.
04:23I like to carve and I like to work with the wood.
04:28At the Nedro-Onondaga Indian Reservation,
04:31Alfie Jacks and his father Lou Jacks make and sell lacrosse sticks.
04:37Onondaga is one of six nations in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
04:41Which the French dubbed the Iroquois.
04:44A lot of people here are really, really proud to be Indian.
04:49And the Onondagas are a sovereign nation.
04:52So we'd rather be all on our own.
04:56Alfie's business took off in 1968 after a nearby stick factory burned down,
05:01leaving him and his dad as top producers.
05:04They carved a thousand sticks a month.
05:07Business slowed down in the 1970s when plastic and aluminum sticks started to replace wood.
05:14Alfie had to take other jobs, but he kept running the business in his free time.
05:22Well, that sounded good, didn't it, Parker?
05:26It's kind of like an obligation to our people, to our culture, to the world of lacrosse.
05:33Native people began playing the sport as a spiritual and social activity.
05:38Competitions had hundreds of players and could last days.
05:43It was also a way to prepare young men for battle and settle disputes.
05:48A missionary in the 1600s renamed the game after the French word for a bishop's staff, lacrosse.
05:55European settlers started playing in the 1800s with limited team sizes.
06:00And in 1868, the National Lacrosse Association of Canada
06:04effectively barred indigenous players from competing.
06:08In the U.S., lacrosse soon became popular among middle and upper class university students.
06:14Today, the U.S. and Canada have dozens of pro teams,
06:17and 85 countries compete in international tournaments.
06:21But wooden sticks are rare.
06:24Alfie stayed in business by tailoring his sticks to each player.
06:29By 2004, he finally had enough customers to work full-time in his shop again.
06:34I'll make one heavy and they'll make one light.
06:37You've got to understand the players are all different, too. They all like different things.
06:43While the wood is still in production, Alfie still has a lot of work to do.
06:46I've got to think about how I'm going to get this one to the right shape.
06:49I'm going to make sure it's all like different things.
06:53While the wood is still hot from the steamer,
06:56Alfie carves off a section of bark where another bend will go.
07:01He marks the date with a pencil
07:06and stores it for the wood to compress.
07:14OK.
07:16for a second bend.
07:31Alfie and Parker push them into a rack.
07:35Their blocks will hold the bend for two weeks.
07:38Alfie still uses the holder his father made
07:40out of scrap wood in the late 60s.
07:43The same goes for his carving bench.
07:47Carving the contours is Alfie's favorite part.
07:51One of those things you do
07:55on a snowy Syracuse day,
07:57you're in here nice and warm,
07:59you're making chips,
08:00playing some blues music.
08:04It's a pretty good feeling.
08:06There's worse things you could do, I guess.
08:10Alfie measures by eye and touch.
08:13After 80,000 sticks,
08:14it's like you kind of know exactly
08:17how much to take off,
08:19how much you're leaving.
08:24He uses antique draw shapes
08:26that were used to make barrels.
08:32He pulls the knife in the direction of the wood screen
08:34to keep the knife in the correct direction.
08:37This allows him to keep the knife in the correct position.
08:40He pulls the knife in the direction of the wood screen
08:42to keep it strong.
08:47There we go, we got one.
08:52All right.
08:55I like it.
09:01Without any markings or template,
09:02he drills about 20 holes around the head.
09:09He spends about 10 minutes sanding the edges.
09:15And I say, there's a piece of wood,
09:17there's a cross sticking there,
09:18and you just have to find it.
09:28Then he finishes rounding the corners
09:30with a sanding block.
09:40Alfie designed his logo when he was in the fourth grade.
09:45I thought, if I had my own symbol,
09:48then they would know that it's not Al Jones,
09:51you know, it's Al Pajak.
09:53Alfie and his father developed their own method
09:55for stringing the pocket in the 60s.
09:58We kind of learned together
10:00because neither of us had ever done it before.
10:04Nobody would teach us how.
10:06It was like a big secret.
10:08They would not teach us anything.
10:11He uses nylon, leather, and rawhide cord,
10:15which he makes himself, to string the pocket.
10:18Lacrosse sticks used to be netted entirely with rawhide.
10:22So this is Alfie's way of honoring the past.
10:25All of these wooden sticks,
10:27they're all a little bit different.
10:28They have their own character,
10:29their own quality, their own way of shooting.
10:33Alfie has been making about 200 lacrosse sticks a year
10:36and selling them for $350 a piece.
10:40But he had to stop production
10:42to treat stage four cancer in 2022.
10:48By August, it was real bad.
10:50It was real bad.
10:51So I came pretty close.
10:56That year, he only made six sticks.
10:59And that's not an income, you know,
11:01so I didn't make any money.
11:03But his community hasn't let him face it alone.
11:08Once again, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out
11:11and supporting the Stick Bakers Tournament.
11:14Benefit for Alfie Jocks.
11:17Players from all six Haudenosaunee nations
11:19raise money for Alfie
11:21with a lacrosse tournament in April.
11:26Alfie Jocks has become synonymous
11:29with the traditional lessons of wooden sticks.
11:32His dedication to the game of native origins
11:36is now recognized and played throughout the world.
11:40So once again, let's hear it for Alfie Jocks.
11:44Thanks, guys.
11:51Good to see a lot of woodies out there.
11:53Good to see all the good lacrosse.
11:56Thanks for coming.
11:57No way, huh?
11:59Thanks.
12:02How you doing, man? How you doing?
12:05Thank you. Thank you. Nice hat.
12:12This is the first game Alfie has seen in over a year.
12:18And it feels even more special
12:20because he's known many of the players for decades.
12:25Alfie played as a forward and a goalie
12:27in the 1960s and 70s.
12:29Back then, his father coached the local Onondaga team.
12:34Alfie followed in his father's footsteps
12:36and became a coach in the 2000s.
12:45When guys want to hang their heads,
12:47it was always that guy to pick us up
12:49and understand why we're playing a game
12:51and not get discouraged.
12:53About 100 players made it to the tournament
12:55to raise money for Alfie
12:57and thank him for his work.
12:59Everybody wants the Alfie stick
13:01because they know the medicine
13:03that Alfie brings to the game.
13:06Wooden sticks can give players more power in their throw
13:09and help play tougher defense.
13:13But they're more difficult to maneuver
13:15and can weigh four times as much
13:17as titanium or carbon fiber sticks.
13:23Some leagues and associations have been trying to ban them
13:26in hopes of reducing injuries.
13:29People need to practice with it more
13:31and stop giving it the bad name
13:33where they want to try to take the stick
13:35that started the game out of the game,
13:37which doesn't make any sense to me.
13:39And although even most indigenous players
13:41choose metal and plastic for their professional careers,
13:44they cherish their wooden sticks
13:46and consider them irreplaceable.
13:48Many still bring their wooden sticks
13:50to the bench for every game.
13:52There's a lot to be said for the connection
13:54that happens when you pick up that stick.
13:56It's almost like a jolt of lightning.
13:59Of course, the world evolves,
14:01and the biggest thing is carrying the principles
14:04and carrying that tradition behind it.
14:07It's good to be out there with the people.
14:11When I'm surrounded by hundreds of lacrosse players,
14:14that's where I want to be.
14:16That's me. That's my life.
14:25One, two, three.
14:26Lacrosse!
14:32The day after the tournament,
14:33Alfie was back at the workshop
14:35with Parker and his sons.
14:39Put the wedge in up there.
14:42Hit it, hit it, hit it.
14:44There you go.
14:50Nice.
14:52Old Indian corn pounder.
14:56His final touch is a purple throwing string,
14:59a sacred color for his people
15:01and a signature of his sticks.
15:06When we met Alfie,
15:08he was working on the last one he would ever make.
15:11Nice, beautiful stick.
15:13How's that, huh?
15:16I love doing this.
15:19And even in his toughest moments,
15:21Alfie always found a way to keep going forward.
15:24It was like when you're in a lacrosse game
15:27and it's overtime, it's tied,
15:30and that guy's running to the goal
15:33and you've got to catch him.
15:35You've got nothing left in the tank,
15:37but you catch him.
15:39It's kind of like that, you know?
15:42Just don't give up.
15:44Dig deep.
15:47Soon after we filmed with him,
15:49he again began feeling too weak to work.
15:55Alfie Jacques died on June 14, 2023.
16:00He was buried at Onondaga
16:02with his lacrosse stick in hand.
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