Nirmal Dillon (2005)

Nirmal Dillon came out of minor lacrosse to become one of the greats of the sport, on and off the floor. He first came onto the lacrosse radar starring for the Junior Shamrocks and helping lead them to the 1962 Minto Cup title. His leadership skills were evident as he was selected captain of the Senior Shamrocks for five of his 11 playing seasons with the WLA team, in which his cunning play and blazing speed allowed him to finish with 227 goals, and 390 assists in 342 games to land in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Those leadership attributes would hold Nirmal in good stead as he parlayed his knowledge of the game into a tremendous coaching career. After retiring as a player, he was named to coach the Shamrocks in 1976 and was an immediate hit on the bench, leading the green and white to first place in 1976, the WLA championship in 1978 and to within a game of the Mann Cup national Senior 'A' title. After some time away from the sport, Nirmal was back on the bench of the Victoria Junior Shamrocks from 1988 to 1992. During that span, they had three first-place finishes, three appearances in the national finals with one Minto Cup victory. Nirmal's second stint with the Senior Rocks began in 1994 and the natural leader coached Victoria into four Mann Cup finals and two national titles. He was WLA Coach of the Year in 1976,1995, 1996 and 1998 and one of the greatest Victoria coaches in any sport is now an honoured member of the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.