The Cantiague Men’s Summer Lacrosse League a.k.a. the Nassau County Summer Lacrosse League was founded by John Pappas. John grew up in Freeport, Long Island and went on to play lacrosse at Syracuse University where he was a two-time All-American. Upon graduation, John returned to Long Island where he was a teacher and coach in the Syosset School District. During his 23 year tenure, he coached varsity lacrosse, football and wrestling and served as the District’s Coordinator of Health and Physical Education. As a coach he led his teams to several County and State Championships.

During the past 40+ years, John’s passion for the game of lacrosse had driven him to launch numerous developmental and recreational programs across Long Island. He served as President of the Nassau County Lacrosse Coaches Association for four straight years and was the the founder of the Bethpage PAL Youth Lacrosse program. In the early 1970’s, started the Nassau County High School Boys Summer Lacrosse League, which played their games at John J. Burns Park in Massapequa.

John was also involved in many local and national fundraising events. He was Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Tournament and active supporter of Lacrosse for Autism.

In 1979 John created the Cantiague Men’s Summer Lacrosse League. At the time, this was the only post-high school league in the area that played during the week and in the evening. As you might expect, it was very popular. As the years past, John added a Masters (30+ yrs. old) and Grand Masters (40+ yrs. old) divisions and at it’s peak, the league had over 50 teams and needed to expand to other facilities (e.g. Mitchel Field).

In 2021, following the COVID pandemic in which there wasn’t any league in the summer of 2020, the league was purchased by it’s current owner, Brendan Wallace.