Kenny Nims ran up the field eager to make a play. Syracuse and Hobart were in a scoreless deadlock March 24 and as Nims drove up the field, he dished it out to his cousin, Greg Niewieroski, who scored to give the Orange the lead. Syracuse never looked back in its 13-4 rout of the Statesmen.

It was just like high school.

Nims developed into a feeder back at Watertown High School, always drawing the double team and dishing it out to Niewieroski for the score.

When they were kids, Nims, Niewieroski and their cousins, Brendan and Jordan Loftus,

would play lacrosse anywhere. In a field. In a driveway. Wherever.

And as a kid, Nims learned how to pass.

Nims’ passing ability is helping him cement his legacy at Syracuse. He comes from a long lineage of Syracuse lacrosse players, including his father, Tom Nims, who won a national championship for the Orangemen in 1983. The past four years playing with his cousins, Niewieroksi and Brendan Loftus, have helped Nims get through the rocky 2007 season and made 2008 even sweeter.

‘That’s the first thing that comes to mind with my family: Lacrosse,’ Nims said ‘Pretty much everyone in my family plays lacrosse – you know that’s like the only option.’

But Kenny Nims makes his own glory as one of four captains of Syracuse, the defending national champions. With four regular season games left, plus whatever the postseason holds, the Watertown-Syracuse lacrosse connection comes to a close – at least for this generation.

As captain, Nims is the quarterback of the SU offense. He’s been groomed into a lacrosse player since before he can remember. First trying out goalie like his dad, Nims is now an attack on the Tewaaraton Trophy preseason watch list and takes responsibility for leading the 2009 Syracuse squad.

Because of the passing skills he developed as a kid, Nims has scored in 26-straight games. Because of his passing, finishers like Stephen Keogh and Chris Dainello can score and lead Syracuse to its current 8-2 record. Nims leads Syracuse with 43 points this season.

SU head coach John Desko said having Nims as a captain is ‘like having another coach on the field.’ Nims works with first-year starter Daniello and redshirt freshman Tim Desko, telling them what they did wrong on the last play, what went right and what to do on the next play.

Lacrosse is second nature to Nims. It runs in his blood. His father, the late Tom Nims, played goalie at SU from 1982-1985. Tom Nims was on the 1983 national championship team, helping earn Syracuse’s first crown in school history as the Orange defeated Johns Hopkins, 17-16.

Twenty-five years later, Kenny Nims played in Gillette Stadium in his own first NCAA championship game. As the 1983 championship team was honored at halftime, the scene was eerily similar to the day when Syracuse won its first-ever title.

Syracuse was playing Johns Hopkins, and a Nims wearing No. 10 was on the roster. Just like 1983.

The outcome: another Syracuse national title. Kenny Nims received his first championship ring, exactly 25 years after his dad obtained his.

The day Kenny Nims won his first title, ‘The way it all fell, it was like fate,’ Nims’ aunt, Shari Niewieroski, said. After all, family, tradition and national championships are the backbone of Syracuse lacrosse.

Kenny Nims has the lineage: his dad, his cousins Brendan Loftus and Greg Niewieroski, a senior attack, all have played for the Orange.

He has the tradition: He wears No. 10. His father’s Orange No. 10 jersey hangs on his bedroom wall in his apartment off-campus. ‘It’s a dream of mine to come here and wear No. 10 like he did,’ Nims said. ‘And to wear it every day it’s just another reminder I have. It’s awesome.’

He has the national championship: 2008.

‘I don’t think we couldn’t ask anything else of him,’ John Desko said. ‘He does so much.’

Desko said Nims has risen to the occasion of replacing last year’s Tewaaraton Trophy winner Mike Leveille as captain. Desko said Nims does everything. He’s quick, a good rider and can recognize what opponent’s defenses are doing. And of course, he can score.

Nims takes responsibility for everything that goes wrong on the field. After Syracuse defeated Binghamton 13-4, Nims was disappointed. He called the rocky 1-1 first quarter against the Bearcats ‘unacceptable.’ As captain, he felt the blame should be placed on his shoulders for not having the team prepared. After Syracuse’s 13-12 loss to Virginia Feb. 27, Nims called all the turnovers the Orange committed ‘not acceptable’ for Syracuse lacrosse.

Because for Nims, almost won’t cut it. He was on the 2007 team that had the ‘worst season in Syracuse lacrosse.’ Nims has been talking, dreaming with Greg Niewieroski about winning a national championship since before he was 10 years old. Sure, he already has one ring, but for Nims, he said the perfect ending to his senior year would be another national championship.

Shari Niewieroski remembers her son and Nims talking about playing at Syracuse and winning a ring of their own.

Seemed like a pipedream then to Shari Niewieroksi and her husband Greg. Now, it’s written in Syracuse history.

Kenny Nims’ dad inadvertently spawned Nims and Greg Niewieroski’s talk of national championships by winning his own, and by giving both boys their first sticks as children. Tom Nims was Niewieroski’s godfather, and according to Niewieroski, ‘a big part of him playing lacrosse.’ So the red stick would go to Niewieroski. Kenny Nims got the blue one. The dreams of lacrosse national championships ensued.

‘Our parents use to bring us down to the Syracuse home games all the time together,’ Niewieroski said about growing up with Nims. ‘And our parents wanted our dreams to come true for us. And it was awesome they did.’

The duo has been playing on a lacrosse team together before either can recall. Shari Niewieroski remembers traveling with both of the boys as early as the seventh grade. Going to Rochester, N.Y., or Maryland – anywhere there was a lacrosse tournament, anywhere they could play more lacrosse.

For Nims and Niewieroski, there was no other option but Syracuse. Nims committed after his sophomore year to play for the Orange. He would play for the same team his dad did.

As a child, Nims tried to follow directly in his father’s footsteps. Nims tried out the cage for a while. But goalie didn’t suit Nims. He failed at goalkeeper out of fear. And Nims wanted to score.

‘Basically I was just pretty scared of the ball,’ Nims said. ‘I didn’t like getting hit with it so I hated getting hit with the ball, and I found myself out of the cage a lot. So I think during the summertime one year I was like ‘OK, I’ll try attack now,’ and I’ve been playing attack ever since.’

The blue stick, the traveling for lacrosse tournaments in the seventh grade, the double teams in high school and Syracuse’s 2007 5-8 season all led up to Nims’ ultimate goal. In 2008, he finally had a national championship ring of his own.

Nims said he’s trying to ‘soak it all in’ before his final season as an Orange passes him by. Before Syracuse lacrosse becomes a memory.

But Syracuse has given so many good memories to Nims – from watching Casey Powell score 13 points against Virginia in 1997, to winning the national title last year. Maybe the end of this season will bring more happy memories, since there is still over a month left in the 2009 season and plenty of more games to play.

A framed picture from the 2008 NCAA national championship game sits in the living room of the Niewieroksi house in Watertown, N.Y., capturing just one of the memories Nims is so found of. Shari Niewieroski found a series of photos online after Nims and her son won their first championship rings.

The framed photo captures that moment in time forever: Niewieroski swings Nims in his arms, both with joy on their faces and Johns Hopkins players down on the ground in defeat.

The day they had talked about for over eight years arrived. Shari Niewieroski remembers them sitting around talking about going to Syracuse, and winning a ring.

And now all their dreams came true.

‘It’s pretty special to win a national championship with people like Greg,’ Nims said. ‘And family as well.’

Because for Kenny Nims, that’s what Syracuse lacrosse is about: family.

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on April 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm