Hall of Fame
In his two seasons playing lacrosse at FDU-Madison, Joe Della-Corte was a prominent team-player that helped win two United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Lydecker Division Championships.
During the 1966 season, following losses to Tufts and Amherst, FDU-Madison went on a twelve-game winning streak in the Lydecker Division (Adelphi, C.W. Post, CCNY, NY St. Maritime) and achieved a 12-2 season record.
As the team’s leading goal-producer scoring 51 goals, he was tied for the National Goal Scoring title. He ranked eighth in the nation in total points and was selected to the All-Division Team. Joe’s single-game highlight in the '66 season came against Villanova when he scored six goals and tallied four assists.
In the 1967 campaign, FDU-Madison had another banner-year defending its Lydecker Championship. Picking up some of the feeding responsibilities following Mitch Baumeister’s graduation, Della-Corte scored 34 goals along with 23 assists. His 57 points ranked him eighth in the nation in total scoring. He was again selected to the All-Division Team in addition to the USILA All-American Team. In his two seasons of play, he scored 85 goals and 32 assists for a total of117 points.
Following his graduation, Joe enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and spent 31 years in Marine Aviation. During his career, he had five combat tours and commanded units on five separate occasions. During those years, as his assignments permitted, Joe was able to continue playing lacrosse at the club level and played for Orange County, CA, LC during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and the Alexandria, VA LC during the 70’s and 80’s. Joe remained a scoring-producer for both of those clubs and made the Southern California All-Star Team on four different occasions. He played his last club game in 1988, while attending the National Defense University in Washington D.C. He retired as a Colonel in 1998.
Joe spent the next 12 years with Raytheon Company, a leading Defense Electronics firm and retired in 2011 as Director of Marketing and Business Operations, Fullerton California. He and his wife Susan are retired in Punta Gorda, Florida, where both are actively engaged in the community. Their daughter Maggie and her family reside in Dana Point, CA and his son John and his wife Nicole live in Richmond, VA.
