Morgan McDuffee – News

The circle keeping Morgan McDuffee’s spirit alive is larger — and still unbroken

�ֲ��ý Magazine — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:00:39 +0000

Remembering Morgan McDuffee ’02

By H. Jay Burns
Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen

On March 3, 2002, the death of �ֲ��ý lacrosse captain Morgan McDuffee ’02 — a young man, as his coach said, “who simply glowed” — plunged the many people who knew and loved him into the darkest kind of despair.

Ten years later, a rainy day that gave way to sunshine, McDuffee’s family, friends and former teammates gathered for a memorial lacrosse game between �ֲ��ý, coached by Peter Lasagna, and Skidmore College, coached by McDuffee’s friend and former teammate, Jack Sandler ’02.

With the passage of time, the circle of people keeping McDuffee’s spirit alive is now larger and still unbroken.

That’s what struck Sandler about the memorial game: “the outpouring of support from so many for someone who meant so much to me but who many of them had never even met.”

Played at Tufts, the non-conference game was also a fundraiser for Morgan’s Fund, administered by the Maine Community Foundation. The fund supports groups promoting anti-violence programming and mediation, including Metro Lacrosse, a Boston nonprofit whose mission is youth development and education through lacrosse competition.

Players, coaches and fans wore No. 2 decals honoring McDuffee’s uniform number at �ֲ��ý.
Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

Before the game, McDuffee’s former teammates brought out Morgan’s lacrosse jersey, signed by both teams, and presented it to his mother.

Lasagna spoke briefly. The moment was heavy with shared emotion, but time had clearly passed, and the group seemed content to come together.

Lasagna said he was certain that McDuffee, had he lived, would have chosen a life that involved working with young people like the Metro Lacrosse youths, many of whom came to the game and were greeted by players and coaches.

�ֲ��ý head coach Peter Lasagna greets young boys and girls from Metro Lacrosse, the Boston nonprofit that focuses on youth development and education through lacrosse competition and receives support from Morgan’s Fund.
Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý

As a coach not much older than his Skidmore players, Sandler has shared the story of his friend Morgan McDuffee. Not necessarily the story of McDuffee’s death — murdered near campus while trying to break up a late-night melee between �ֲ��ý students and locals — but of his competitive yet generous spirit. He was a “what can I do to help?” type of leader and an equally loyal and big-hearted friend.

“Obviously, I spend a lot of time with my players at Skidmore,” Sandler says. “They get to know me and they’ve heard me speak of Morgan before. But in the locker room before the game, when I presented them with the No. 2 stickers for their helmets, this was the first time. They understood what a tragedy this had been and how important Morgan was to not just me but all those who attended the game.

“Morgan reached so many people in such a short amount of time.”

When the hard-fought game ended (Skidmore won), Sandler and Lasagna embraced.

McDuffee’s mother asked a photographer to take a picture of her and her sister, Morgan’s aunt, with the signed jersey, and they smiled as the photo was taken.

After the game McDuffee’s mother, Lisa Freeman (left), and her sister, Laura Birdsall, pose with McDuffee’s �ֲ��ý lacrosse jersey, signed by both teams. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý

Suzi Andrew South ’04, who was engaged to McDuffee at the time of his passing. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

Players, coaches and fans wore No. 2 decals honoring McDuffee’s uniform number at �ֲ��ý. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College.

For many players, the game was their first understanding of the power of the McDuffee story. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý

Head coach Peter Lasagna and his former players Aaron Sells ’01, Chris Buckley ’01 and Ben Anderson ’99. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý

McDuffee dedication honors ‘vitality, leadership and courage’

�ֲ��ý News — Fri, 22 Aug 2003 14:47:48 +0000

The program for a 2012 �ֲ��ý-Skidmore lacrosse game in memory of Morgan McDuffee ’02 featured this familiar McDuffee portrait on the cover. Behind are fundraising containers with “Morgan’s Fund” written on them. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý)

A sports scoreboard rarely merits more than a passing glance. You check who’s winning, maybe the inning or time remaining, before turning your attention back to the action on the playing field. Yet at its �ֲ��ý dedication ceremony on Sept. 20, the new Morgan W. McDuffee ’02 Memorial Scoreboard attracted long, pensive looks — not for any winning score enumerated in its amber lights, but for its promise to become a campus symbol of loss turned to hope. “Sacred spaces are often places of special memories,” President Elaine Tuttle Hansen told the audience of several hundred �ֲ��ý and Lewiston-Auburn community members who attended the 4 p.m. Homecoming event at the Campus Avenue Field. “We hope this place becomes a sacred space at �ֲ��ý, a place that carries memories of Morgan McDuffee, a place to remember, think of, and honor Morgan.” Captain of the �ֲ��ý lacrosse team, McDuffee was stabbed to death on March 3, 2002, while intervening in an early-morning street fight near campus. In May 2002, his �ֲ��ý degree was awarded posthumously to his parents, who attended Saturday’s ceremony, as did McDuffee’s fiancee, Suzanna Andrew. In the months following McDuffee’s death at the hands of a local resident, “�ֲ��ý and the Lewiston-Auburn community could have turned away from each other,” said Peter Lasagna, McDuffee’s lacrosse coach. “Instead, we decided to turn toward each other to create a permanent monument to his life force, a monument to love, community and cooperation.” A fund-raising effort led by Lasagna realized gifts of nearly $21,000 from �ֲ��ý alumni, parents and Lewiston-Auburn community members to install the Daktronics scoreboard along the northwest corner of the AstroTurf field, which is home to �ֲ��ý varsity lacrosse and field hockey. Twenty-five feet wide by 10 feet high, the scoreboard uses LED lights (amber for game time and scores and red for penalty time and player numbers) and is topped along its entire length with a lighted garnet sign that reads “In Memory of Morgan J. McDuffee ’02.” Beneath the scoreboard, an inscribed granite stone in a flower bed honors McDuffee’s “vitality, leadership and courage.” Project donor Ship Bright ’78 of Nobleboro, speaking at the event, said the tragedy of McDuffee’s death demanded a community response. “It was important to do something,” he said. “This project reflects the best of fund-raising because it honors the soul, spirit and passion a community can bring to a cause.” For Lasagna, the scoreboard will tell more than scores and times. It will be a place to “say hello over and over again to one of the finest people I have ever known, a place that makes a statement about the heart and character of the people of Lewiston, Auburn and �ֲ��ý College.”

McDuffee Memorial 5K Run/Walk to support youth-violence prevention

�ֲ��ý News — Thu, 13 Feb 2003 19:28:01 +0000

With proceeds destined for an American Red Cross program addressing issues of youth violence, a 5-kilometer run/walk dedicated to the memory of slain �ֲ��ý College senior Morgan McDuffee will be held on Sunday, March 2. Click here for online registration.

In a related commemoration of McDuffee’s life, a memorial gathering organized by Morgan’s friends will be held in the Chapel at 9 p.m. Monday, March 3.

The Morgan McDuffee Memorial 5K Run/Walk begins at 9 a.m. March 2 at the Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building, 130 Central Avenue, and follows a course past McDuffee’s former home on Main Street. Proceeds will benefit the Morgan W. McDuffee Memorial Fund for Safe Schools, of the American Red Cross.

In the early hours of March 3, 2002, McDuffee was stabbed to death while intervening in a street fight near the �ֲ��ý campus. He was a scholar-athlete who earned an A on his senior thesis in macroeconomics. His degree in economics was awarded posthumously to his parents, Regis McDuffee of Newburyport, Mass., and Lisa Freeman of Peterborough, N.H., at the �ֲ��ý Commencement, in May 2002.

Captain of the lacrosse team at �ֲ��ý, McDuffee was a star athlete as early as elementary school in Lyndeborough, N.H., where he belonged to the swim team. He went on to captain the lacrosse and football teams at Lexington (Mass.) High School, and spent winters at Killington Mountain Ski School as a junior Olympic ski racer.

“He struck me as one of the most mature, directed and kind young people I have ever met,” lacrosse Coach Peter Lasagna told the Lewiston Sun-Journal a few days after McDuffee died. “He impressed me every day.”

The McDuffee Fund for Safe Schools was founded in summer 2003 by Suzanna Andrew, McDuffee’s fiancee. The fund is affiliated with the Safe Schools Initiative of the American Red Cross, which provides curriculum materials emphasizing violence prevention in elementary, middle and high school.

Lasagna calls the run/walk “a perfect and vitally important way of honoring Morgan’s life and spirit.” The circumstances of McDuffee’s death, he adds, “just make you very, very aware of the thin line that separates whether a young kid has a chance at a great life or not. This program has grown out of Suzi’s heart, with Morgan’s spirit attached to it, to try to help young people learn how to resolve their differences without violence.”

“Morgan would no doubt win this race and laugh all the way through the finish line.”

Two �ֲ��ý students, junior Graham Veysey and senior Kathleen Burke, are chairing the run/walk. (The event is not affiliated with �ֲ��ý College.) A silent auction on race day will also benefit the McDuffee fund.

Entry fees are $7 for students under 13; $10 for students 13-17; $16 for all other entrants. Registration may be done on race day or in advance. Checks should be made out to the American Red Cross with “Morgan W. McDuffee Memorial Fund for Safe Schools” in the memo line. Contact:

Morgan McDuffee Memorial 5K Run/Walk
�ֲ��ý College Box 783
Lewiston, ME 04240

E-mail: morgan5K@bates.edu

Telephone: 207-240-4670
Fax: 207-786-6035

�ֲ��ý, Lewiston-Auburn community cope with McDuffee death

�ֲ��ý News — Fri, 08 Mar 2002 18:19:24 +0000

To the Campus Community,

We continue to express our grief. We have received hundreds of messages of condolence from within the College, from alumni, parents and friends, and from members of the Lewiston and Auburn community — neighbors, city officials, school children and scores of citizens.

Family and friends of Morgan are beginning to plan a memorial service to be held on campus; we will announce the details of the service as soon as they are determined. Grief counseling remains available to those in need through the Health Center.

Members of the Campus community should be aware of the safety procedures and services that have long been in place — including the Safewalk Alert program, the Security phone system, the availability and reliability of �ֲ��ý’ EMS, the identification and self-defense programs, and the whistle and alert systems.

In addition, effective immediately, the College Security officers have expanded the areas of escort and are responding to personal requests for escorting, including those via cell phone. Security staffing has also been increased, as have patrols on campus and off. Lewiston Police patrols have been increased, as have their frequency.

Established this past January, a Neighborhood Alliance, with the College and the immediate neighborhood, now meets regularly to increase communication and to address common issues, including issues of safety. Holly Gurney, Assistant Dean of Students or Chris Cuevas, Security Officer, or Bill Hiss, Vice President for External and Alumni Affairs, who serve on the Neighborhood Alliance, would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

We will be exploring the installation of courtesy telephones (not to replace but to be in addition to existing security phones) on the outside of residence halls, so that communication can be eased and the frequency of “propped doors” diminished.

Information is now being gathered to determine whether the College can use existing technology to connect off-campus students to the �ֲ��ý internet system efficiently and effectively. Moreover, the same exploration will occur to determine if we can connect off-campus students to the �ֲ��ý voice mail system.

Finally, a full-time Assistant Director of Campus Security will be identified as the security liaison with the Neighborhood Alliance and will, over the next few days, develop specific means of assisting in the interactions of campus members and the neighboring community. This will provide additional support to all, but particularly to the students living off-campus.

The efforts of Security, the efforts of the Lewiston Police, the support of the neighborhood and that of the campus community are directed to the shared objective of confirming a safe environment. Everyone benefits if there is a reaffirmation to the attention, precautions, and interest in maintaining such an environment .

Thank you,
Donald W. Harward
President

Note: A full list of the College’s Security and Campus Safety programs is found on the Security website.

To the Community,

There will be a memorial service at 7 p.m. Friday, March 15th in the Chapel in remembrance of Morgan McDuffee. Those who wish to gather following the service may do so in the Perry Atrium in Pettengill Hall.

We wish to thank Morgan’s friends, Peter Lasagna and Kerry Maloney for their thoughtful planning of this service.

Celeste Branham
Dean of Students

Morgan McDuffee – News

The circle keeping Morgan McDuffee’s spirit alive is larger — and still unbroken

McDuffee dedication honors ‘vitality, leadership and courage’

McDuffee Memorial 5K Run/Walk to support youth-violence prevention

�ֲ���ý, Lewiston-Auburn community cope with McDuffee death

�ֲ��ý, Lewiston-Auburn community cope with McDuffee death