00:00Bending hickory wood is the key to crafting a traditional Native American lacrosse stick.
00:10Alfie Jacques has spent a lifetime perfecting the skill.
00:13That's beautiful. Look at that.
00:18He's one of the last people in the world who knows how to make them.
00:22I'm still working on it.
00:23He's on Ndaga, one of the Native American nations that invented lacrosse a thousand years ago.
00:36Here we go.
00:38They call the sport Dejon Chikwa Es, and they believe it was a gift from the creator.
00:45Babies sleep beside their own wooden stick from the day they're born,
00:48and players are buried with theirs when they die.
00:53And in the past five decades, there's a good chance it was made by Alfie.
00:57Most indigenous stick artisans went out of business when plastic and aluminum
01:01replaced wood in the 1970s.
01:04The market just disappeared on us.
01:07Alfie managed to stay afloat because his work was legendary.
01:11He's crafted more than 80,000 of these by hand.
01:15But in 2022, he almost had to stop for good.
01:19Well, I had cancer.
01:21And then, of course, chemo beats the crap out of you, so you don't feel good.
01:26We went to the Onondaga Nation to see how, with Alfie's help, this tradition is still standing.
01:37Go ahead, hit it.
01:38Alfie started making sticks from hickory trees with his father back in 1961.
01:44We didn't have any money to buy one.
01:46My dad said, so let's make our own.
01:51It was trial and error, right from the start.
01:55He used to chop and saw them on his own.
01:59But nowadays, his apprentice, Parker Booth, does most of the heavy work.
02:04They set the rails to dry for a month before cutting them down to size.
02:12When we filmed with Alfie in April,
02:14he was feeling strong enough to run the bandsaw on his own.
02:18But days like this are rare.
02:22Last year, he could barely walk.
02:25I wasn't going anywhere. I didn't see one lacrosse game last year.
02:27Not one.
02:29Couldn't hold my head up long enough to watch a game.
02:32Today, he's grateful for every minute he spends here.
02:45Evening the wood is crucial for the perfect bend later.
02:49This is the only time Alfie needs a measuring tool.
02:53I use calipers.
02:57I know I'm cheating.
03:01He spends about 10 minutes perfecting the thickness.
03:06Alfie's been carving since he was five years old.
03:09I got my start with wood with my grandmother.
03:12She was a basket maker.
03:14The artistic thing was in her, it was in me, it was in my father,
03:18it was in all of us in the family.
03:22Meanwhile, Parker heats their steamer to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
03:27Alfie's had it since the 1960s.
03:32The sticks cook for up to 40 minutes until the wood softens.
03:39Alfie tests the wood before bending
03:41because it could easily break if it's over or under steamed.
03:45If it's still stiff, it goes back in the steamer.
03:48A couple minutes.
03:50Get it back in there like that.
03:52But when it bounces, he knows it's ready.
04:02The bark holds the fibers together, keeping the wood from breaking.
04:07Today, Alfie needs Parker's help to bend the wood.
04:11But he did it on his own for decades, at times with just one arm.
04:18I like to take a piece of hickory log and turn it into a good stick.
04:23I like to carve and I like to work with the wood.
04:28At the Nedro-Onondaga Indian Reservation,
04:31Alfie Jacks and his father Lou Jacks make and sell lacrosse sticks.
04:37Onondaga is one of six nations in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
04:41Which the French dubbed the Iroquois.
04:44A lot of people here are really, really proud to be Indian.
04:49And the Onondagas are a sovereign nation.
04:52So we'd rather be all on our own.
04:56Alfie's business took off in 1968 after a nearby stick factory burned down,
05:01leaving him and his dad as top producers.
05:04They carved a thousand sticks a month.
05:07Business slowed down in the 1970s when plastic and aluminum sticks started to replace wood.
05:14Alfie had to take other jobs, but he kept running the business in his free time.
05:22Well, that sounded good, didn't it, Parker?
05:26It's kind of like an obligation to our people, to our culture, to the world of lacrosse.
05:33Native people began playing the sport as a spiritual and social activity.
05:38Competitions had hundreds of players and could last days.
05:43It was also a way to prepare young men for battle and settle disputes.
05:48A missionary in the 1600s renamed the game after the French word for a bishop's staff, lacrosse.
05:55European settlers started playing in the 1800s with limited team sizes.
06:00And in 1868, the National Lacrosse Association of Canada
06:04effectively barred indigenous players from competing.
06:08In the U.S., lacrosse soon became popular among middle and upper class university students.
06:14Today, the U.S. and Canada have dozens of pro teams,
06:17and 85 countries compete in international tournaments.
06:21But wooden sticks are rare.
06:24Alfie stayed in business by tailoring his sticks to each player.
06:29By 2004, he finally had enough customers to work full-time in his shop again.
06:34I'll make one heavy and they'll make one light.
06:37You've got to understand the players are all different, too. They all like different things.
06:43While the wood is still in production, Alfie still has a lot of work to do.
06:46I've got to think about how I'm going to get this one to the right shape.
06:49I'm going to make sure it's all like different things.
06:53While the wood is still hot from the steamer,
06:56Alfie carves off a section of bark where another bend will go.
07:01He marks the date with a pencil
07:06and stores it for the wood to compress.
07:14OK.
07:16for a second bend.
07:31Alfie and Parker push them into a rack.
07:35Their blocks will hold the bend for two weeks.
07:38Alfie still uses the holder his father made
07:40out of scrap wood in the late 60s.
07:43The same goes for his carving bench.
07:47Carving the contours is Alfie's favorite part.
07:51One of those things you do
07:55on a snowy Syracuse day,
07:57you're in here nice and warm,
07:59you're making chips,
08:00playing some blues music.
08:04It's a pretty good feeling.
08:06There's worse things you could do, I guess.
08:10Alfie measures by eye and touch.
08:13After 80,000 sticks,
08:14it's like you kind of know exactly
08:17how much to take off,
08:19how much you're leaving.
08:24He uses antique draw shapes
08:26that were used to make barrels.
08:32He pulls the knife in the direction of the wood screen
08:34to keep the knife in the correct direction.
08:37This allows him to keep the knife in the correct position.
08:40He pulls the knife in the direction of the wood screen
08:42to keep it strong.
08:47There we go, we got one.
08:52All right.
08:55I like it.
09:01Without any markings or template,
09:02he drills about 20 holes around the head.
09:09He spends about 10 minutes sanding the edges.
09:15And I say, there's a piece of wood,
09:17there's a cross sticking there,
09:18and you just have to find it.
09:28Then he finishes rounding the corners
09:30with a sanding block.
09:40Alfie designed his logo when he was in the fourth grade.
09:45I thought, if I had my own symbol,
09:48then they would know that it's not Al Jones,
09:51you know, it's Al Pajak.
09:53Alfie and his father developed their own method
09:55for stringing the pocket in the 60s.
09:58We kind of learned together
10:00because neither of us had ever done it before.
10:04Nobody would teach us how.
10:06It was like a big secret.
10:08They would not teach us anything.
10:11He uses nylon, leather, and rawhide cord,
10:15which he makes himself, to string the pocket.
10:18Lacrosse sticks used to be netted entirely with rawhide.
10:22So this is Alfie's way of honoring the past.
10:25All of these wooden sticks,
10:27they're all a little bit different.
10:28They have their own character,
10:29their own quality, their own way of shooting.
10:33Alfie has been making about 200 lacrosse sticks a year
10:36and selling them for $350 a piece.
10:40But he had to stop production
10:42to treat stage four cancer in 2022.
10:48By August, it was real bad.
10:50It was real bad.
10:51So I came pretty close.
10:56That year, he only made six sticks.
10:59And that's not an income, you know,
11:01so I didn't make any money.
11:03But his community hasn't let him face it alone.
11:08Once again, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out
11:11and supporting the Stick Bakers Tournament.
11:14Benefit for Alfie Jocks.
11:17Players from all six Haudenosaunee nations
11:19raise money for Alfie
11:21with a lacrosse tournament in April.
11:26Alfie Jocks has become synonymous
11:29with the traditional lessons of wooden sticks.
11:32His dedication to the game of native origins
11:36is now recognized and played throughout the world.
11:40So once again, let's hear it for Alfie Jocks.
11:44Thanks, guys.
11:51Good to see a lot of woodies out there.
11:53Good to see all the good lacrosse.
11:56Thanks for coming.
11:57No way, huh?
11:59Thanks.
12:02How you doing, man? How you doing?
12:05Thank you. Thank you. Nice hat.
12:12This is the first game Alfie has seen in over a year.
12:18And it feels even more special
12:20because he's known many of the players for decades.
12:25Alfie played as a forward and a goalie
12:27in the 1960s and 70s.
12:29Back then, his father coached the local Onondaga team.
12:34Alfie followed in his father's footsteps
12:36and became a coach in the 2000s.
12:45When guys want to hang their heads,
12:47it was always that guy to pick us up
12:49and understand why we're playing a game
12:51and not get discouraged.
12:53About 100 players made it to the tournament
12:55to raise money for Alfie
12:57and thank him for his work.
12:59Everybody wants the Alfie stick
13:01because they know the medicine
13:03that Alfie brings to the game.
13:06Wooden sticks can give players more power in their throw
13:09and help play tougher defense.
13:13But they're more difficult to maneuver
13:15and can weigh four times as much
13:17as titanium or carbon fiber sticks.
13:23Some leagues and associations have been trying to ban them
13:26in hopes of reducing injuries.
13:29People need to practice with it more
13:31and stop giving it the bad name
13:33where they want to try to take the stick
13:35that started the game out of the game,
13:37which doesn't make any sense to me.
13:39And although even most indigenous players
13:41choose metal and plastic for their professional careers,
13:44they cherish their wooden sticks
13:46and consider them irreplaceable.
13:48Many still bring their wooden sticks
13:50to the bench for every game.
13:52There's a lot to be said for the connection
13:54that happens when you pick up that stick.
13:56It's almost like a jolt of lightning.
13:59Of course, the world evolves,
14:01and the biggest thing is carrying the principles
14:04and carrying that tradition behind it.
14:07It's good to be out there with the people.
14:11When I'm surrounded by hundreds of lacrosse players,
14:14that's where I want to be.
14:16That's me. That's my life.
14:25One, two, three.
14:26Lacrosse!
14:32The day after the tournament,
14:33Alfie was back at the workshop
14:35with Parker and his sons.
14:39Put the wedge in up there.
14:42Hit it, hit it, hit it.
14:44There you go.
14:50Nice.
14:52Old Indian corn pounder.
14:56His final touch is a purple throwing string,
14:59a sacred color for his people
15:01and a signature of his sticks.
15:06When we met Alfie,
15:08he was working on the last one he would ever make.
15:11Nice, beautiful stick.
15:13How's that, huh?
15:16I love doing this.
15:19And even in his toughest moments,
15:21Alfie always found a way to keep going forward.
15:24It was like when you're in a lacrosse game
15:27and it's overtime, it's tied,
15:30and that guy's running to the goal
15:33and you've got to catch him.
15:35You've got nothing left in the tank,
15:37but you catch him.
15:39It's kind of like that, you know?
15:42Just don't give up.
15:44Dig deep.
15:47Soon after we filmed with him,
15:49he again began feeling too weak to work.
15:55Alfie Jacques died on June 14, 2023.
16:00He was buried at Onondaga
16:02with his lacrosse stick in hand.
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