Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh designed to catch and hold the lacrosse ball. Offensively, the objective of the game is to score by shooting the ball into an opponent's goal, using the lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball to do so. Defensively, the objective is to keep the opposing team from scoring and to dispossess them of the ball through the use of stick checking and body contact or positioning. The sport has four major types: men's field lacrosse, women's lacrosse, box lacrosse and intercrosse.

Lacrosse, a relatively popular team sport in the Americas, may have developed as early as AD 1100. By the seventeenth century it was well-established and had been documented by Jesuit priests, although the game has undergone many modifications since that time. In the traditional Native Canadian version, each team consisted of about 100 to 1,000 men on a field that stretched from about 500 meters to 3 kilometers long. These lacrosse games lasted from sunup to sundown for two to three days straight. These games were played as part of ceremonial ritual to give thanks to the master.

William Benz "Billy" Bitter (born June 10, 1988) is a professional American lacrosse player for the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse, after being traded in the 2012 expansion deal from the Denver Outlaws. Bitter also plays for the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. Bitter formerly played lacrosse for the University of North Carolina. He was given the Jay Gallagher Award (given to the most valuable freshman on the North Carolina lacrosse team) his freshman year. He was named All-ACC his sophomore year and named 1st team All-American. His junior year he was named Offensive Player of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and was named to the All-ACC team, as well as first team All-American.

The son of Ward and Nancy Bitter, Billy Bitter comes from a talented lacrosse family. His father, Ward Bitter, is in the Boston College Hall of Fame for being an All-American lacrosse player at Boston College. His brother, Ward Bitter was forced to give up a promising lacrosse career due to a blood condition. His other brother, Matt Bitter, played college lacrosse for the Navy Midshipmen. His younger brother, Jimmy Bitter, currently attends the University of North Carolina and is ranked as the #2 overall incoming college freshman by Inside Lacrosse.^{[citation needed]}

Kyle Harrison is a lacrosse player from Baltimore, Maryland born to Wanda and Miles Harrison,M.D.. He matriculated to the Friends School of Baltimore, and later played in college at Johns Hopkins. While playing for the Blue Jays, he led the team to the 2005 NCAA Division I National Championship.

His father, Dr. Miles Harrison, played on the first all-black college lacrosse team in the NCAA during the 1970s at Morgan State.

Harrison co-founded Run N' Gun Lacrosse with friend Joe Walters. Harrison was assigned to the Denver Outlaws due to the economic situation and the disbanding of the LA Riptide.

Harrison was the first overall draft pick in the MLL for the 2005. He was a midfielder with the New Jersey Pride from 2005 until the 2007 season. He played in the MLL All-Star Game in 2005 and 2006. Harrison also played for the 2006 U.S. Men's National Team in World Lacrosse Championship.

Harrison was traded to the Los Angeles Riptide after the 2007 season. Since joining the Riptide, Harrison has played in the 2008 MLL All-Star Game, and helped the Riptide return to the postseason as a third seed in the NB ZIP MLL Championship Weekend to play for the Steinfeld Cup. The Riptide fell in the semifinal round to the Denver Outlaws.

Daniel Milton "Dan" Rooney, CBE (Hon.) (born July 20, 1932) is the United States Ambassador to Ireland. He is chairman emeritus of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team in the National Football League (NFL), which was founded by his father, Art Rooney. Rooney was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 for his contributions to the game. He is credited with spearheading a requirement that NFL teams with head coach and general manager vacancies interview at least one minority candidate, which has become known as the "Rooney Rule".

Rooney is also co-founder of the Ireland-related fundraising organization The Ireland Funds.