Laura Hebert shown officiating a lacrosse game from the late 1980’s.

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Laura Hebert was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in Maryland on Jan. 6, the crowning achievement in an incredible 30-year career in the sport.

Hebert, who was named the Ravenna School District Superintendent in 2021, was recognized by the Hall of Fame committee as a “truly great contributor” after an illustrious career in the sport that spanned officiating, national rules interpreter, training advisor on the USA Lacrosse Board of Directors and also three years as the Chair of the USA Lacrosse Board of Directors from 2012-2014.

LAURA HEBERT

“When I got the call, I couldn’t believe it,” Hebert said. “Everything about it is really exciting, but much more humbling. I have been so lucky to have always been around the giants of the game. The real, big giants of the game. So to even be considered was so humbling.”

Hebert actually never played lacrosse.

She got involved with the sport, and quickly fell in love with the sport, after volunteering for a lacrosse event at Ohio Wesleyan in 1988.

Hebert, who graduated from Walter E. Stebbins High School (Dayton), was already a well-respected field hockey official at that time and her transition to lacrosse came naturally and also overlapped with the immense growth of the sport in Ohio.

Soon Hebert went from officiating high-school contests to college games at all divisions, raising her national rating. Her career moved her to Virginia, where she realized that “on the east coast, lacrosse is everywhere. Officials were needed so badly, and I started to see the need to get involved in things more. As a national official, that is your expectation, to give back to the sport.”

That energy and passion led Hebert to help in one of the biggest decisions in United States lacrosse history, when the men’s and women’s international federations merged in 2008 to create the Federation of International Lacrosse, which was rebranded in 2019 as World Lacrosse.

At the time of the merger, Hebert, whose induction presenter was longtime friend, colleague and fellow National Lacrosse Hall of Fame member Laurette Payette, was the Chair of the Board of Directors for U.S. women’s lacrosse.

The merger was critical and necessary for United States lacrosse to have an opportunity to compete as an Olympic sport in the future.

That will become a reality in 2024 in Paris.

“To be in the Olympics you need to be under one umbrella so that became a big focus of our work,” Hebert said. “To be part of the games in Paris is something that we are very excited about.”

The merger did not come without some angst, however, as both the men’s and women’s organizations wondered how it would impact each of them individually. Through that process and inside those conversations, Hebert emerged as a leader and mediator.

Laura Hebert (far right) stands with two other lacrosse officials at a tournament event.

“Because I am an educator and work with so many different people, I felt I had an ability to bring people together to help facilitate those tough discussions,” Hebert said. “I was always hopeful that I could make things less contentious. Through it all, we helped the men’s game, because we gave it structure. The men helped us, too, and I was just one of many, many people that helped pull everything together to get us to where we are today.”

Hebert, along with her peers, anticipate that the exposure from lacrosse joining Olympic competition will have a striking impact on an already rapidly growing sport.

“We like to say that lacrosse is the fastest-growing sport on two feet. It is growing exponentially across the nation,” Hebert said. “The TV exposure through the Olympics will spark a growth spurt that I hope we can keep up with.”

It will all be part of Hebert’s legacy as part of her 30-year career of leadership that coincided with the growth of the sport from coast to coast.