The story of the Hammer

After each practice and each gameday, the Blue Devil coaching staff awards that day’s clutch performer with The Hammer. How did it all start?

Back in the fall of 2008, head coach Matt Palisin felt the makeup of his team was to the point where it would contend for the SUNYAC Championship and beyond. After taking over a program that was drained of prospects and gradually building it back up, the Devils finally amassed the talent and depth of a contender. He informed the team that the Blue Devils would be “the SUNYAC Hammer this year. Fredonia State will be the team swinging the Hammer in our conference.”

That winter, during the team’s annual Christmas gift exchange, Taylor Gahagen bought Josh Greco an actual carpenter’s hammer with a baseball-lace grip. They painted it up and put the word “SUNYAC on the hammer. Josh was thrilled to receive it.

However, as time went on, Josh left the Hammer on the shelf in the team locker room. Over the winter break, coach Palisin found it lying there. He got an idea.

The Hammer would be handed out as a kind of traveling trophy after each practice and each game. The players took to it.

The Hammer made the team’s annual trek south in the spring of ‘09. Just before leaving, then-senior Pete Lusk could be heard shouting “make sure we have the Hammer.” He packed it in his bag.

The Devils opened up with 10-0 and 12-0 wins over Dominican College on Opening Day. They went 8-1 on the trip. They continued the roll up north, defeating three Top 25 teams along the way.

By the end of the regular season, the Devils set the team record for wins and earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. Upon entrance into the tournament, the players were presented with new travel shirt – the SUNYAC Hammer was boldly depicted on the front.

The Devils would also go on to play host to a post-season tournament for the first time in program history – The ECAC Upstate New York Regional Tournament. They won the first game in fine fashion, a 12-0 whitewashing of Cazenovia.

The Hammer helped the Devils pound their way to a 26-12 mark that year and crack the national poll.

The Hammer has a little more rust and were today, but is alive and well. After each practice or game, the player awarded the Hammer is required to give a speech to the team and is responsible for care of The Hammer until the next Blue Devil claims it for his own.