Back when he was playing baseball at Kenmore’s Inglemoor High School, Tony Olney, 44, got tired of standing around in the outfield waiting for fly balls that only rarely seemed to come his way.

“I always say I was saved by lacrosse from the national past time,” said Olney, a teacher and vice-principal of the Northshore School District’s Secondary Academy of Success who was inducted into the second class of the Washington State Lacrosse Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Seattle on Oct. 4.

Spurred on by some adult lacrosse enthusiasts, the young Olney was part of the first lacrosse club at Inglemoor, where he played as a goalie until his graduation in 1982. Getting the team on the field really was up to Olney and his teammates. In those days, long before anyone had heard of ordering over the Internet, Olney said the only place to buy lacrosse equipment was from a guy who sold items out of his garage in Renton.

Not incidentally, the team got a big boost with a contribution from the Washington High School Boys Lacrosse Association, a forerunner of the Washington Lacrosse Council, which started the sport’s state Hall of Fame program last year.

Without Olney and some of his compatriots to keep promoting the sport, the Inglewood team eventually fell apart. But Olney wasn’t anywhere near finished with his adopted sport. After arriving at Washington State University, he ended up launching that school’s first lacrosse club. In this case, Olney’s efforts stuck and the team still exists, competing as a club sport in the Pacific Coast Collegiate Lacrosse Association.

After graduating from WSU, Olney coached three local high school lacrosse teams, taking Seattle’s Nathan Hale High School squad to two state championship games. Olney left coaching only to allow himself time to move into educational administration. He still sits on the board of directors for the Washington State Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse.

Even though Olney doesn’t coach or play much anymore except for the occasional pick up game, one obvious question is, why the devotion to a sport of which most people might have heard, but probably don’t know much about?

According to Olney, lacrosse combines some of the best aspects of far more popular sports. There are elements of hockey, in that goals must be scored in a net. There are elements of football in the physical contact required. And there are elements of basketball in the strategy of the game. Just as importantly, Olney said lacrosse doesn’t require players be great athletes in order to be successful.

“There’s a spot in lacrosse for anybody,” he said.

As controlling the lacrosse stick, used to catch and pass the ball, is a critical aspect of the game, Olney added that good hand and eye coordination might be the most important attribute for a lacrosse player.

“Stick work really is the key,” Olney said. “As long as you’ve got that, you’re good to go.”

Olney added there is no caste system on lacrosse teams. Certainly, some players are better than others, but as already noted, everyone is welcome.

“I’ve played in tournament with some of the greatest players in the world,” Olney said. “Once you play lacrosse, you’re a member of the club. There’s no elitism.”

While baseball might be known as America’s past time, Olney pointed out lacrosse began as a Native American game. Early lacrosse sticks were thought to resemble the hooked staffs carried by certain clergy and thus the name comes from the French phrase for “bishop’s stick.”

Olney said his induction into the state Hall of Fame came as a surprise. He said he knew he’d been nominated, but still didn’t expect to win. While accepting the award at the Washington Athletic Club, Olney said he had to talk about his two young daughters, both of whom were in the audience.

“They were so excited I mentioned their names. My hope is they’ll start playing pretty soon,” Olney added.