Ryan Powell rolled up to practice last Thursday in a black Mercedes G500. The starting price is $77,000.

This year, Powell is a volunteer assistant coach for the Syracuse lacrosse team. He also plays professionally in Major League Lacrosse, one of the two professional lacrosse leagues in the United States.

He and his teammates on the Rochester Rattlers of MLL make less than $18,000. In the National Lacrosse League, the top salary is about $25,000. There are 20 former Syracuse Orangemen playing in at least one of the two leagues. Six former Orangemen play in both. The NLL lasts from November to April, while MLL picks up in May and ends in August.

Powell, with his lucrative deal with Warrior Lacrosse, is the exception to almost every professional lacrosse player. He estimates that there are about six players, of which he includes himself and his brother Casey, who can make a living off of pro lacrosse, including endorsement deals. The rest of the players in the leagues are forced into other jobs. Some are bankers, teachers and coaches. Some work on Wall Street and some in real estate.

But whatever the position in the work force, these players have learned that MLL, the outdoor league, and NLL, the indoor league, are not for those in pursuit of wealth. Rather, they’re for those in pursuit of their dream.

‘They aren’t playing for the money,’ said Michael Powell, Ryan’s brother and a senior on the SU lacrosse team. ‘These guys are not really looking at it as extra income, they’re playing something they grew up playing and they can’t let it go.’

Lacrosse is a sport with a small but loyal fan following. It’s not for all. But for those that were raised playing it, the game is difficult to pass up.

Each Tuesday during the winter, Marshall Abrams, Regy Thorpe and Pat Cougevan meet in Syracuse at 6:45 p.m, on their way to Buffalo. Film session for the Rochester Knighthawks of the NLL starts at 8. So they make the two-hour drive through snowstorms and heavy fog to make it on time.

Very few players on the Rochester franchises of MLL and NLL actually reside in the city. Almost all have jobs all over New York. Abrams works on his house on Onondaga Reservation. Thorpe is a district manager for New England Financial. Cougevan is an account executive for Otis Elevator Company. Most players drive to Buffalo. Some, if they can afford it, fly in for practice and games.

Abrams, Thorpe and Cougevan usually get home from their weekly practices at 2 a.m. Most days, they’re up six hours later. After all, they can’t be late for work. Two years ago, the trio hit a snowstorm and spent the night in their car at an Ontario rest stop. They got back at 6 a.m. the next day.

The practices allow the players to take their minds off of their 9-to-5 jobs. But most importantly, it gives them the opportunity to keep playing, even 11 years out of college.

‘We want to win,’ said Cougevan, who played at Syracuse from 1990 to 1993. ‘There’s still that desire to play. Unfortunately, I haven’t won a championship since I left Syracuse. There are very few people that win that last game ever. Maybe that’s pushing me to keep going.’

MLL enters its fourth season when practice begins this week. Nine former Orangemen are on the Rochester Rattlers franchise, including both Powells. Ryan said in the first year of the league’s existence, his starting salary was $30,000. The next year it was $20,000. This year he’ll make $18,000.

But league executives don’t see the depreciation as an alarming trend, just a better understanding of the league and its revenue. The goal for MLL is that future pro lacrosse players will be able to make a living solely off lacrosse. But when that time will come? Nobody can be certain.

‘It wasn’t all that long ago that baseball players would have a job in the off-season selling cars or selling insurance, then playing ball in the spring and summer,’ said Mike Lieberman, director of public relations for MLL. ‘That lifestyle was around for decades before most players lived off their baseball incomes. We don’t have a time frame. Trying to set a goal would be counterproductive.’

The former Orangemen are hopeful that the day will come sooner rather than later. Abrams resigned from his job as a manager of a sports facility last year. Now, he’s supporting his wife and two kids on his $30,000 salary, which he is paid for his participation in both lacrosse leagues.

‘You can’t make a living off it,’ Abrams said. ‘You can make a decent salary if you combine both leagues together. But for most of the guys, family comes first. Everyone’s got their jobs.’

Lieberman pointed to the current state of the National Hockey League to show what MLL is trying to avoid. He said that hockey salaries are grossly inflated, and that is causing major problems with the team owners.

‘It’s much better to be cautious and put yourself in position to grow as opposed to doing too much too soon and shooting ourselves in the foot,’ Lieberman said.

But the low wages may keep at least one current Orangemen out of the professional leagues. Michael Powell has repeatedly said he may cease playing lacrosse after his senior season is over. The Baltimore Bayhawks of MLL have already announced in a press release that the franchise will select Powell with the No. 1 pick in the draft held in May.

Of course, whether Powell agrees to play in the league is a different story.

‘I’m not sure if I love lacrosse enough to pursue it as a career,’ Powell said. ‘I don’t really know. It’s still up in the air. It depends on how sick of lacrosse I am at the end of the season. If I need that extra income, then it would be for me.

‘Lacrosse isn’t a large portion of my life. Although it may seem like I’m a lacrosse rat, it’s not true. I have a pretty wide base of things I enjoy more than lacrosse.’

Certainly, Lieberman and the MLL agree that an athlete like Powell would not only draw more attention to the league but also increase the talent level. Powell said if he did play professionally, he would like to join his brothers in Rochester. But the only way that would happen would be if he were acquired in a trade with Baltimore.

Powell has made up his mind in one regard. He won’t play in the NLL, the rougher indoor league, which draws more comparison to ice hockey than actual lacrosse.

‘That’s out of picture for me,’ Powell said. ‘Getting beat up and making a grand – that isn’t my idea of fun.’

But for dozens of former Syracuse players, it is. Some, including Tom Marachek, Thorpe and Cougevan, play into their mid-30s. Abrams, 25, said he’d like to play for 10 more years.

‘It’s a great game,’ Abrams said. ‘The love of the game makes people want to keep playing it. Most players have great jobs, they just do it for the extra cash. But it’s a chance to have fun and hang out with the boys.’

Published on April 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm