Duane ”Dewey” Jacobs was one of the Indigenous pioneers in the NLL and perhaps at all levels of lacrosse that he competed in. He is still one of the few NLL Indigenous offensive players to reach 400 points.

Like many young boys Dewey began playing lacrosse as a five-year-old on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory with the Six Nations Minor Lacrosse Association.

As he aged he competed at a continually developing level toward being elite. During the 1988-89 season he played with the Owen Sound North Stars in the Ontario Senior B Lacrosse Association. He was named the League Rookie of the Year and was a member of the 1989 President’s Cup national championship team. In 1991-92 he played for the North Shore Indians in the West Coast Senior B League and was named the League MVP.

One of the highlights in his aspiring career was playing for the Six Nations Chiefs. The Chiefs were three-peat Sr. A Mann Cup national champions between 1994-1996.

Duane’s professional team career began in 1993 in the MILL/NLL with the Detroit Turbos. Beginning in 1995 he would play for the Rochester Knighthawks for eight seasons. The Knighthawks were NLL champions in 1997. During his time in Rochester the team made four championship final appearances.

In 2003 he began an 11-season tenure with the Buffalo Bandits. Each season the team qualified for the playoffs. He was named to the Second Team All-Pro for four consecutive seasons from 1997-2000.

During his final season of summer box lacrosse in 2003, he was on the Kitchener Kodiaks President’s Cup national championship team. He was also a part of the Iroquois Nationals World Box Lacrosse silver medalists.

At the end of his playing days Dewey was a five-time national champion and one-time professional champion. He then pursued his passion to be coach of the next generations. Jacobs was an assistant coach for the Buffalo Bandits from 2004-2006, as well as 2010, and he was the head coach of the Minnesota Swarm from 2007-2009. As the Swarm’s head coach, his team had a record of 25-23. In both 2007 and 2008, Jacobs coached the Swarm to back-to-back playoff appearances.

He was the Director of Player Development for the Rochester Knighthawks for two seasons between 2017 and 2019. He was the Iroquois Nationals head box lacrosse coach that earned silver medals in the 2007 and 2011 seasons.

Dewey was inducted into the Rochester Knighthawks inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2009, the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame player category in 2016, and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the player category in 2019.