The William C. Schmeisser Award is an award given annually to the NCAA's most outstanding defenseman in men's college lacrosse. First presented in 1942, it is one of the oldest individual awards in collegiate lacrosse. The award is presented by the USILA and is named after William C. "Father Bill" Schmeisser, a player and coach for Johns Hopkins University in the early 1900s. Schmeisser played defense at Hopkins from 1900 to 1902. He was head coach of the Blue Jays from 1907 to 1911 and continued to serve as an advisory coach to the team thereafter, accompanying the team to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. He was a charter founder of the Mt. Washington Lacrosse Club and was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1957. In its early years, the physical trophy was a rotating award retained by the winning college rather than the individual winner; recipients instead received framed certificates known as Shingles.
Award Winners by Year Year Player School 1942 Tyler Campbell Princeton1943 George Riepe Johns Hopkins1944 Fred Allner Jr. Cornell1945 Charles Guy Navy1946 Robert Fetters Maryland1947 Fred Allner Jr. Princeton1948 John McEnery Army1949 Lloyd Bunting Johns Hopkins1950 Kin Yellott Yale1951 Joe Sollers Johns Hopkins1952 Bill Hubbell Maryland1953 Jack Johnson Army1954 Stan Swanson Navy1955 John Raster Navy1956 John Simmons Maryland1957 Ben Glyphis Army1958 Walt Mitchell Johns Hopkins1959 Don Tillar Army1960 Bill Carpenter Army1961 Mike Byrne Johns Hopkins1962 Bob Fuelhart Army1963 Mike Coughlin Navy1964 Jim Campbell Navy1965 Pat Donnelly Navy1966 Hank Kaestner Johns Hopkins1967 Hank Kaestner Johns Hopkins1968 Carl Tamulevich Navy1969 Mike Clark Johns Hopkins1970 Greg Murphy Navy1971 John Burnap Cornell1972 Tom O’Leary Army1973 Mike Thearle Maryland1974 Boo Smith Virginia1975 John Lawlor Navy1976 Mike Farrell Maryland1977 Chris Kane Cornell1978 Chris Kane Cornell1979 Mark Greenberg Johns Hopkins1980 Mark Greenberg Johns Hopkins1981 Bob Henry Army1982 George McGeeney UMBC1983 Steve Byrne Virginia1984 Tom Haus North Carolina1985 John DeTommaso Johns Hopkins1986 Tom Haus North Carolina1987 Tom Haus North Carolina1988 Dave Pietramala Johns Hopkins1989 Dave Pietramala Johns Hopkins1990 Pat McCabe Syracuse1991 Graham Harden North Carolina1992 Brian Burlace Maryland1992 David Morrow Princeton1993 David Morrow Princeton1994 Reid Jackson Rutgers1995 Dan Radebaugh Maryland1996 Tyler Hardy Duke1997 Brian Kuczma Johns Hopkins1998 Christian Cook Princeton1999 Ryan Curtis Virginia2000 Marshall Abrams Syracuse2001 Ryan Mollett Princeton2002 John Glatzel Syracuse2003 Michael Howley Maryland2004 Lee Zink Maryland2005 Brodie Merrill Georgetown2006 Michael Culver Virginia2007 Mitchell Belisle Cornell2008 Nick O’Hara Duke2009 Michael Evans Johns Hopkins2010 Ken Clausen Ryan Flanagan Virginia North Carolina2011 John Lade Syracuse2012 Tucker Durkin Johns Hopkins2013 Tucker Durkin Johns Hopkins2014Joe FletcherLoyola2015Matt LandisNotre Dame2016Matt LandisNotre Dame2017Tim MullerMaryland2018John SextonNotre Dame2019Johnny SurdickArmy2020None(Season canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic)2021JT Giles-HarrisDuke2022Will BowenGeorgetown2023Gavin AdlerCornell2024Jake PisenoAlbany 2025 Shawn Lyght Bobby Van Buren Notre Dame Ohio State2026Shawn LyghtNotre Dame
Number of Awards by University
Rank School Awards1 Johns Hopkins University 172 University of Maryland 103 United States Naval Academy 93 United States Military Academy 95 Princeton University 65 Cornell University 67 University of North Carolina 57 University of Virginia 57 University of Notre Dame 510 Syracuse University 410 Duke University 412 Georgetown University 213 Loyola University Maryland 113 Yale University 113 University of Maryland, Baltimore County 113 Rutgers University 113 University at Albany 113 Ohio State 1
See also Jack Turnbull Award Lt. Raymond Enners Award McLaughlin Award Major League Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Year Award National Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Year Award
References
External links US Lacrosse Awards page