If you ran into the newest Buffalo Bandit, Ron John, during the week, it’d probably be on a lacrosse field. In fact, the former Ottawa Black Bear was coaching when he learned of the March 10 trade.
John serves as an assistant coach for both Lake Shore High School and the Seneca War Chiefs, a Junior B box lacrosse team. With the latter, he coaches alongside former Bandit Darris Kilgour.
Bandits.com caught up with the Angola, N.Y. native to discuss the trade, his reuniting with close friend Tehoka Nanticoke and playing Fortnite.
How did you learn you’d become a Buffalo Bandit?
It was funny. We were doing preseason practice for high school lacrosse and I was in the middle of practice, so I hadn’t checked my phone. In between the drill, I went to check my watch and I saw that I had missed calls from my GM at Ottawa. I knew it was deadline day, so it couldn’t have been great. So, I waited another drill, got my emotions collected and called him back, and that’s when he said, ‘Hey, this is what’s happening, this is what we wanted, this is how it went down.’ And then he ended the call with, ‘I think you’re going to fit in, and we sent you to Buffalo.’
A big mix of emotions there, so it was pretty crazy to deal with, but I think what made it easy was that I was in the middle of practice. So, I was able to bring everyone in. I talked to them about it. Talked to them about how getting traded away sucks and all that, with all the friends and family you make through the years. I ended it off with them and told them that I was going to Buffalo, and the…