December 2nd, 2023 | By Adam Levi | insidelacrosse.com
The New York Riptide have two talented young lacrosse players who are great ambassadors for the Indigenous community on and off the floor.
Larson Sundown and Ron John both grew up in Upstate New York and are both proud members of the Seneca Nation. Sundown was raised in Tonawanda while John was raised only a couple of dozen miles south in Angola.
They’re both in their mid-20s now and have been professional teammates for a season and a half, but despite living on different reservations in their youth, they’ve been familiar with each other for most of their lives.
From their days going up against each other with their respective minor systems – Sundown played for the Tonawanda Braves and Ron John played for the Newtown Golden Eagles – to going to battle together for the Haudenosaunee Nationals, Sundown and John have had a long, and ever-evolving, relationship.
“I grew up playing against Ron in minor lacrosse, and as we got older, we began to play on club teams together, and then we’ve played on the Haudenosaunee Nationals together,” Sundown said. “Now, we not only play together, we coach together. We have a lot of those days when we’re flying, and we’re just bouncing ideas off each other and talking about our experiences with the kids.
“He’s a great guy and shares a lot of the same passion and love of the game as I do, so it’s awesome to be around him all of the time.”
From John’s perspective, he joked that he and Sundown have had a one-sided love-hate relationship for a long time. Sundown was a very talented youth lacrosse player who received a lot of praise as he was on the come-up. John had heard all about Sundown and his rise in the youth lacrosse ranks, even from miles away, and it bothered him.
“We played minors against each other growing up, so I actually hated Larson Sundown,” John said. “I hated the name Larson Sundown until probably around first-year midget when we played our first games and first tournament together – it was the midget nationals up in Whitby. We played for Team Iroquois, it was called back then. Knowing each other, it’s easy to make that close bond when you’re on the same team. That’s where it started, and then it just grows from there.”
Both Sundown and John dreamed of joining the NLL one day. Through their hard work and dedication to their craft, they both made it happen in 2020. When the world was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their lives kept moving forward. John was selected 18th overall in the 2020 NLL Entry Draft by the Colorado Mammoth and Sundown was selected 18 picks later by the New York Riptide.
For John, his time with the Golden Eagles, the Six Nations Arrows and the University of Albany Great Danes set him up for success in the pros. For Sundown, he had stints at RIT and at Limestone during his collegiate years and spent time with both the Coquitlam Jr. A Adanacs and the New Westminster Jr. A Salmonbellies before suiting up in the pros.
With John playing out in Colorado and Sundown playing in New York for the start of the 2022 NLL season, this was the farthest apart these guys had been since their junior careers – it was one of the greatest distances they had ever been apart in their playing career, period. That would be short-lived. The duo would be reunited around the 2022 NLL trade deadline when John was brought to the Riptide in a trade that saw former #1 overall draft pick Tyson Gibson go to the Mammoth.
It was only 11 days after the trade, on March 26th, that Sundown and John showed what things could look like when they were both on their A game and playing for the same team. John, a defender, and Sundown, a forward, combined for 5 assists in that game. They even worked together in this contest to help Callum Crawford score one of his 4 goals in the team’s 15-6 victory.
In their budding but very brief history, the Riptide have struggled to string many wins together, but this was a shining moment. In fact, when Sundown and John have combined for 5 or more points in a single game, the Riptide are 3-0. For many reasons, including winning lacrosse games because of their combined efforts, Sundown and John have really enjoyed playing with one another yet again.
“It’s certainly special,” Sundown said. “Obviously, Ron and I have had very similar paths. Coming from the same upbringing, going through all those trials and tribulations, then making it to this point, and then being able to give back with someone like him, it’s a really awesome opportunity. Whenever we’re there [with the native communities of Long Island], it’s like we’re with our brothers and sisters again. We’re kind of that older influence, and we try our best to try to persuade them in the best ways. To be able to have that opportunity is very, very special.”
When Sundown and John suit up for the Riptide, they are not just representing their team, they are representing Seneca Nation and the Indigenous people. Being at the opposite end of New York State after spending most of their lives up north, both Sundown and John have an opportunity to branch out to Indigenous communities of southern New York and Long Island.
They feel very fortunate to be leaders with a platform because of their affiliation with the Riptide and do not hesitate to create connections with the local Indigenous people. Even Indigenous athletes and people like Sundown and John are also learning about other Indigenous people’s lives and experiences.
“Last year, we [the Riptide] got to go just down the road and talk to some community members, and it felt just like we were at home,” John said. “Something like that, is really meaningful because we’re not different. All of us are very similar, and we all grew up in very similar situations – some good, some bad. But I think the biggest thing is community. To see the community backing up the kids the most, that’s just one of the better things because at home, it’s community first and kids first.”
“Myself and Ron are very lucky – we have quite a few fans that come out to support us pretty consistently,” Sundown added. “We have people from the Shinnecock Reservation who come out pretty frequently and they’re always supporting us. They have their kids come over and get autographs after and we catch up with them.”
The future is bright for both Sundown and John, and hopefully, they will continue to be able to share so many of the lifelong memories they are creating in the NLL. As lacrosse players and Indigenous men, Larson Sundown and Ron John will not stop striving to be two talented young lacrosse players who are great ambassadors for the Indigenous community on and off the floor.
