Neil Stevens: Lacrosse’s selfless storyteller
On April 1st, we lost one of lacrosse’s most passionate, professional, and perfect people.
At the age of 74, Neil Stevens left us this past Friday after a two-and-a-half year fight with colon cancer.
I didn’t know Neil well, personally at least. We chatted a number of times at various events. We traded emails in the past. More recently messages through social media, both publicly (Neil saying he looked forward to something I was working on meant more to me than he knew) and privately (more on that later). I was most definitely more of a fan (a big one) than I can admit to being a friend.
If you’re on this site, you surely know who Stevens was, and if not, as a fan of the sport, you certainly read his words whether you realized it or not.
In a thorough & touching tribute of Neil’s journalistic journey, Canadian Press senior writer, Neil Davidson, wrote, “Stevens was a rich character, a talented writer unflappable on deadline and someone who lived life to the fullest.”
Neil wrote about many sports for many different media outlets, but lacrosse was his most loved, no matter where his stories sat. Honoured by both the Hockey Hall of Fame & National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame, Neil truly was one of the best.
I first learned of Neil’s passing after seeing Nick Rose’s tweet early on Saturday.
A day earlier, I was thinking of Neil. I hadn’t checked in with him for quite a while, and I noticed he hadn’t tweeted in a bit. I was going to send him a note to ask how things were going. I regret waiting so long.
I had only first heard of Neil’s health issues in March of 2021. Cancer has been a constant in my family’s life for the last number of years. When I learned he was going through chemo, my heart broke for Neil and his loved ones.
I sent him a message. I told him how sorry I was to hear of his illness. I told him how much I truly loved reading his work over so many years. I sent him hope, positivity, and strength.
He responded, “Thanks for the kind thoughts, Paul. I was diagnosed Oct. 9, 2019, with stage 4 colon cancer. I am now on the second 12-treatment phase of treatments and hoping to squeeze another couple of years out of the ol' body.”
The handful of messages we shared afterwards were always positive. Based on his tweets over the past year, lacrosse and the NLL were definitely something he was still able to enjoy.
I searched seemingly everywhere for a photo of Neil to include in this tribute. We ended up using the same headshot as Davidson did in his remarkable recounting of Neil’s never-to-be-matched resume. The few others we found were far too small for the site. You could barely tell it was him.
That’s also why Neil was so incredible at what he did.
Neil Stevens never made a single moment about himself. While his name appeared above the words he wrote, that’s where it ended. Heck, unless you knew him, good luck figuring out that @EddiesTop100 was famed Canadian sports journalist Neil Stevens on Twitter.
They were his words, but the stories were solely focused on the sport and athletes he was assigned.
It was Neil’s selfless approach to his storytelling that will have many remembering his name for countless years to come.
His own words were included in his beautiful obituary today, Neil telling his family, “To Cathie, our children, Jessica, Paula and Kimberley, to their husbands, Craig, Michael and Duke, and to our grandchildren, Noah, Ayden, Chloe, Liam, Kieran, Tristan and Olivia, you made my life worthwhile. I will love you always.”
Whether it was remembering my mother, who left us due to a similar fight not long ago, or knowing I will never be able to ask him how he’s doing again, Neil’s words, and the ones shared by his family in today’s lovely last chapter, brought me to tears.
Thank you, Neil, for making all of us feel like we were present at every event you covered, and thank you for making us feel something even more significant in the days after your death. You were one of a kind and will be immensely missed.
Here are messages from others, in lacrosse and beyond, who remember how incredible an individual Neil Stevens was.