SPARKS, Md. — Chris Rotelli, a national champion and the University of Virginia’s first-ever Tewaaraton Award winner, has been named to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame Class of 2026, USA Lacrosse announced Thursday (Sept. 10).
One of eight honorees in this year’s class, Rotelli becomes the 15th Virginia Cavalier to be enshrined in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the first since Kris Snider was honored as part of the 2021 class. Joining Rotelli in this year’s class are Lissa Fickert, Jon Hess, Sarah Albrecht Meehan, Lindsey Munday, Jim Nestor, Max Seibald and Peter Worstell.
The newest members of the Hall of Fame will be officially inducted during a dinner ceremony at the M&T Bank Exchange in Baltimore on Saturday, Jan. 9. Tickets for the event will be available for online purchase beginning next month.
A native of Rumford, Rhode Island, Rotelli won the Tewaaraton Award, presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate player, after authoring one of the best individual seasons ever by a Cavalier in 2003. A team captain his senior year, he helped UVA to ACC championships in 2000 and 2003 and NCAA semifinal appearances in 2000, 2002 and 2003 before he and the Cavaliers capped his senior campaign by capturing the program’s third NCAA title. He finished his career first among UVA midfielders in points (126) and second in both goals (85) and assists (41) all-time.
In 2003, he set the program’s single-season points record by a midfielder with 49 and became the first UVA midfielder since 1996 to lead the team in scoring. With 26 goals and 23 assists, he also became UVA’s first-ever midfielder to record at least 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season.
In addition to winning the Tewaaraton Award, Rotelli was named the recipient of the Lt. Donald McLaughlin Jr. Award, presented annually by the United States Lacrosse Association (USILA) to the nation’s top midfielder, and became UVA’s fourth midfielder to earn USILA First Team All-America honors twice, having also done so in 2002.
A three-time All-ACC selection, Rotelli was honored as the 2003 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Year, one of five Cavaliers to win the award under head coach Dom Starsia and only the program's second midfielder to win the league’s top award. He was also named the 2003 ACC Male Athlete of the Year, becoming one of only five Cavaliers in school history to earn the conference’s top male athlete honor and the only men’s lacrosse player to do so.
Rotelli was selected No. 1 overall by the Bridgeport Barrage in the 2003 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Draft. Throughout his eight-year MLL career (2003-10), he also had stops with the Boston Cannons, San Francisco Dragons and Chicago Machine. A three-time MLL All-Star, Rotelli finished his professional career with 163 points (109 goals, seven 2-pointers and 47 assists) in 76 career games.
The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame was established in 1957 to honor men and women who by their deeds as players, coaches, officials and/or contributors, and by the example of their lives, personify the great contribution of lacrosse to our way of life.
In addition to his vast accomplishments on the field, Rotelli has spent the past two decades growing the sport of lacrosse on the West Coast as a coach and club founder, helping establish the game in a region of the country not traditionally considered a lacrosse hotbed.
Four years after the North Coast Section officially sanctioned lacrosse as a high school sport in the state of California, Rotelli founded the Golden State Lacrosse Club in 2006. Following a three-year career in commercial real estate, he returned to lacrosse full time in 2012, when he founded ADVNC Lacrosse, which currently supports almost 300 teams across 15 states, primarily in non-traditional lacrosse markets. In 2014, he became the head coach at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, California, where he steered the Gators to six league championships and a Central Section title in 2025.
“I get so much more fulfillment out of helping people through lacrosse and also running my own business,” Rotelli told USA Lacrosse Magazine in a recent article chronicling his lacrosse journey.
“Lacrosse is one of these things,” he said. “When it gets in your blood, it stays there.”
UVA MEN’S LACROSSE HALL OF FAMERS
Howdy Myers, 1971
Bill Hooper, 1976
Pete Eldredge, 1990
Jay Connor, 1994
Jim Potter, 1997
John Driscoll, 1998
Doyle Smith, 2000
Tom Duquette, 2001
Roddy Marino, 2002
Dom Starsia, 2008
Michael Watson, 2013
Jay Jalbert, 2014
Doug Knight, 2017
Kris Snider, 2021
Chris Rotelli, 2026
The National Hall of Fame Process
The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame selection process is managed and maintained by USA Lacrosse, with an annual voting system utilized to select inductees. The voting group is comprised of current Hall of Fame members, current or former U.S. National Team players and coaches, elite level high school or college coaches, elite members of the officiating community, and individuals that have contributed to the growth of the sport on a national or international level. Final approval of the selectees is provided by USA Lacrosse’s Board of Directors. Full details are available online at usalacrosse.com/national-lacrosse-hall-fame-process.
About USA Lacrosse
USA Lacrosse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, is a Recognized Sports Organization of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. As the governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse in the United States, USA Lacrosse fuels the growth, enriches the experience, and fields the best National Teams, supporting more than 425,000 members across the country.