At 5 feet 10 inches, Dan DiPietro is about the same size as his childhood friends Sean Lindsay and Brian Crockett.

But at 193 pounds, he’s smaller than himself as a 16-year-old high school sophomore.

‘He was an animal,’ Crockett said. ‘His biceps were jacked. He was so young and looked like he had been working out his whole life.’

Since crashing his car into a telephone poll soon after passing his driving test as a 16-year-old – breaking a vertebrate and bruising his lungs in the process – DiPietro has shrunk from a 202-pound high-schooler to a 192-pound senior in college. Though the accident – for which a helicopter landed in front of Brewster High School and air-lifted DiPietro to the nearest hospital – was less alarming than at first thought, DiPietro has never regained the empowering size he enjoyed as a two-time All-America high-schooler. Tomorrow, a slimmer, trimmer DiPietro and the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team hopes to keep an inexperienced Rutgers (6-3) offensive unit at bay at 1 p.m. at Yurcak Field.

‘When he first started (playing lacrosse), he was huge,’ Lindsay said. ‘He looked like a 10-year-old on steroids.’

Thanks to a workout regimen implemented by DiPietro’s varsity high school coach, Brian Walsh, who also coached DiPietro in fifth-grade lacrosse, the Brewster native towered over his competition and teammates.

DiPietro played with the JV squad in middle school, and the coach tongue-lashed DiPietro, punishing the prodigy for his productivity.

‘Lacrosse just comes too damn easy to you,’ the coach screeched.

So easy, in fact, that DiPietro landed on the varsity squad as an eighth-grader. He also became an alternate for the Empire Sports Games, which is the ultimate New York competition for lacrosse. DiPietro was the only 14-year-old there.

Both Crockett and Lindsay played on DiPietro’s Hudson Valley team at the games.

‘He would just whack the hell out of us,’ Crockett said.

Even after the accident, which DiPietro returned from in one month, lacrosse came back to him. He became one of the nation’s most sought-after seniors.

One problem. He hadn’t taken the SATs. As the recruiting period came and went, DiPietro remained unsigned. He couldn’t apply anywhere because of the tests.

Meanwhile, doctors diagnosed DiPietro’s mother, Toni, with breast cancer. Though Syracuse was DiPietro’s No. 1 choice, he couldn’t go. With most family funds directed toward Toni’s treatment, Syracuse, which was tapped out of scholarship money, was no longer an option.

Johns Hopkins coach John Haus pulled some strings with the admissions office and offered DiPietro a partial scholarship.

Just weeks later, Haus defected for North Carolina.

Immediately, Hopkins made DiPietro uncomfortable. Sure, Hopkins’ new coach Dave Pietramala played a ball-controlled style, which bored DiPietro. Sure, DiPietro was stuck as a fourth defender, unable to gain any playing time. But it was more than that. The people. The city of Baltimore. DiPietro hated all of it.

By the time DiPietro became a sophomore, his relationship with Pietramala strained. DiPietro started every scrimmage and practice up until the season opener, when he sat on the bench.

DiPietro says he doesn’t know if he should say what the argument was about, if it’s printable.

‘Basically,’ he said, ‘I didn’t get out on an attackman far enough in practice. Some little thing. We got into a huge argument. And I had to get out of there.’

After Hopkins beat SU, 9-8, on March 16, 2002, the Orangemen stayed in Baltimore for the night. DiPietro lounged with Lindsay.

‘I have to get out of here,’ DiPietro said.

‘Dan,’ Lindsay said, ‘we need defenders.’

DiPietro smiles remembering.

‘That’s when I pretty much knew I was going to Syracuse,’ DiPietro said.

Because NCAA rules allow players in lacrosse to play immediately after transferring, DiPietro immediately became a starter for the Orangemen (8-1).

Now DiPietro is a captain, back with lacrosse friends from his middle school days. And he’s still thriving, even though he’s not the powerful force from high school and, most especially, in middle school.

‘If you wanna know what Danny looked like in eighth grade, just take a look right over there,’ Crockett said pointing to the senior. ‘That’s Danny in eighth grade. He was that big. Just imagine a little more hair.’

Published on April 15, 2004 at 12:00 pm