Legends in their respective coaching communities, Mort and Sally
LaPointe were the heart and soul of the Bowdoin Athletic Department
for more than two decades, coaching a combined sixty seasons and
accounting for over 450 victories and eight conference
championships.
Mort LaPointe made an immediate impact on the early years of the
men’s lacrosse program at Bowdoin, taking the helm of a team
that had been led by five different coaches in the previous five
seasons. He quickly provided the team much-needed stability and
guided the program to national prominence. In only his fourth
season as head coach, LaPointe was awarded the Neville B. Smith
Award as New England’s Intercollegiate Lacrosse Coach of the
Year, beginning a staggering string of success that would see
Bowdoin become an ECAC powerhouse.
LaPointe led the squad for twenty-one seasons, from 1970 until
1990, retiring with a career record of 218 wins and only 76 losses
(.741). LaPointe’s success as head coach was remarkably
consistent. In the eighteen seasons from 1973 to 1990, the
men’s lacrosse team qualified for the ECAC Championship
Tournament sixteen times, and came home with five Championship
titles (there surely would have been more, but on nine occasions
the team was unable to participate in the tournament due to exams).
LaPointe capped his legendary career with a flourish, capturing the
1990 ECAC Championship with an emotional 15-11 victory over
Williams in his final game.
Showing his love not only for Bowdoin but for the game, LaPointe is
well-known in the lacrosse community for his efforts to grow the
sport. In 1974, he was elected to the NCAA Lacrosse Rules
Committee, a post he held for three years before being named chair
in 1977. He also served as the President of the New England
Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association and, upon his retirement,
received the U.S. Lacrosse Coaches Association’s Joseph R.
Julien Service Award, recognizing outstanding and continued service
to the sport. Before coming to Bowdoin, LaPointe attended Trinity
College (CT) with the class of 1955. In 1965 he earned an M.A. in
Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University. While at Wesleyan,
LaPointe began coaching lacrosse at the Lenox School (MA) where he
remained for eleven years, accumulating an impressive 83-24
mark.
The first-ever female coach at the newly co-educational Bowdoin,
Sally LaPointe served as a mentor and coach for a generation of
Bowdoin student-athletes. A pioneer in women’s sports at an
institution that would eventually become one of the premier
destinations for female student-athletes, she was a teacher, role
model, and friend to countless women at a changing college.
LaPointe’s Bowdoin career began with the field hockey team in
the fall of 1972. She led that program for a remarkable twenty
years, accumulating 131 victories and winning the MAIAW (Maine
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Championship in
1976 and 1977 and finishing as a finalist in 1981, 1983, and 1984.
Passionately devoted to her sport, LaPointe was a member of the
NCAA Field Hockey Committee, and from 1981 to 1986 served as chair.
In 1978 she was selected by the U.S. Field Hockey Association to
serve as a coach at the National Team Development Camp.
In the spring of 1974, LaPointe founded Bowdoin’s
women’s lacrosse program, and coached the squad for nineteen
years. During her time at the helm, she compiled a 103-83-5 mark
and won the NIAC (Northeast Independent Athletic Conference)
Championship in 1986, guiding her team to a perfect 15-0 record.
Additionally, LaPointe coached the women’s basketball team
for the program’s inaugural season in 1974-75, and was the
long-time women’s coach in the squash program with Ed Reid.
All four of the programs that LaPointe helped establish have
developed into nationally recognized contenders, and three
(basketball, lacrosse, and field hockey) made NCAA Tournament
appearances in 2005-06 and finished their respective seasons ranked
in the top ten nationally. In a history-rich athletic program with
such a great number of long-tenured and remarkably successful
coaches, it is fair to say that no other individual has made their
mark on so many programs in such a profound way as Sally
LaPointe.
Before coming to Maine, LaPointe served as director of the
girls’ athletic program at Berkshire Country Day School in
Lenox, Massachusetts. She has been inducted into the Connecticut
College Athletic Hall of Fame.
Mort and Sally LaPointe reside in Bowdoinham, Maine, and are still
year-round fixtures at Bowdoin sporting events. Together the couple
raised three children; they have seven grandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
