Jacob Totten '17 became first member selected to The Yellow Jacket for impact on the program even if his playing career was cut short due to injury just after four career games.

Totten had a crucial lead by example impact on the program. His no excuses and way to push through adversity propelled the program forward. He had a never quit and fight through adversity attitude that bleed through the team.

Current head coach Tony Tatro was able to coach him when he was assistant and talked about his drive and leadership by example. “His effort and attitude everyday were great for the team,” Tatro said. “For him to show up and give it all with a smile on his face, always give everything he had with no excuses, it was a blessing to see.”

Totten was another member of the lacrosse team that joined in its second season. At the time, he wasn’t even planning on going to college. “My parents convinced me to go to school, Coach Tarnow was recruiting, so I said I will go to BW,” said Totten. His plans were to go into the Marine Corps, and he enlisted in the Marine Corps when he enrolled at BW.

Totten had times where could not be around the team as much as he wished to be and was still able to make the lasting impact on the program and teammates. His favorite memory was coming back and being able to see the guys again his sophomore year. “It was a great group of guys and a great coaching staff and some of my best friends were on the team, so it was great to see them all again,” Totten said.

“The team means so much to him to be able to go through the adversity and keep showing up everyday, when the guys were having some bad days with classes or in their personal life, and meanwhile he had all this other stuff going on and he managed to give it his all every single day,” said Coach Tatro.

During his time with the team, he saw a lot of improvement on the team. He was seeing the switch from lacrosse being a club sport to it being a real sport and BW became competitive fast. “I could see the lacrosse team they were more serious; it was becoming a sport like football at wrestling at BW,” Totten said. “The caliber of people kept getting better and better and better.”

His teammates were able to saw that lead by example within him. “Whatever adversity was thrown my way, you sucked it up and dealt with it,” Totten said. “Whenever people were having a bad day, they could look at me and see the adversity I went through, and I kept on going. I always kept it light-hearted through any situation, I never was hard on myself. It is what it is and that’s how you build character going through adversity.”

Coach Tatro discussed the standard of giving it all at practice and not making excuses he set within his time here at BW. “We talk about being where your feet are and he certainly by lived that.” Tatro said. “Whatever he was doing at that time, he gave 100% effort and the outside distractions didn’t exist to him.”

This honor meant a lot to him, especially given he was the first member voted in. “It means a lot, given I was the first one, and I only got to play a full one year with the team,” said Totten. “It is cool that I only played one year, and they can look back and say I did make a big impact on the lacrosse program.”

Totten wants the current team and future Yellow Jackets to know that they are blue collar team. “We put our nose down and we drive forward; there is nothing that is going to stop us,” Totten explained. “The team is going to keep getting better, the players are going to keep better and we are Jacket Tough as the wrestling team would say.”