Man Afraid of the Soap

Man Afraid of the Soap won a bronze medal in 1904 lacrosse with the Mohawk Indian team representing Canada. Some sources list the Mohawk Indian team as actually an Iroquois Indian team, as the Mohawks were one of the six nations of the Six Nations Confederacy of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Native American (First Nations) peoples. They apparently were from the area surrounding Brantford, Ontario.

Man Afraid of the Soap had the English name of Freeman Joseph Isaacs, and was noted to be an excellent seaman, having sailed the lakes around Ontario since his youth, and he had seen service aboard old windjammers. Three of his sons, Lance, Wilton, and Wade Isaacs also became lacrosse stars for various teams around Ontario and Buffalo. Wilton, known as “Bill”, was considered the first superstar of box lacrosse and was inducted into the Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1965. Lance suffered a fatal heart attack whilst playing in a game at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1937.

Freeman Isaacs had four other sons and one daughter. He died of a heart ailment, listed as aortic regurgitation on his death certificate. At his death he was living on the Six Nations Reserve in Tuscarora Township, Brant County, Ontario, where he was buried.