The Stanwicks are considered one of the first families of lacrosse. All eight of Wells Sr. and Dori Stanwick’s children, including Shack, the Johns Hopkins freshman attackman who was the No. 1 recruit in the country, have played or are playing in Division I. Yet throughout their careers, the Stanwicks have been in the minority, woven together by a common thread: a leather-strung stick.
While leather pockets — which are also known as traditional because Native Americans used deerskin or raw cowhide to string sticks — were the norm 20 years ago, they have become an outlier. Now most players prefer synthetic mesh.