1941: Lacrosse

The 1941 lacrosse season was an excellent one. American lacrosse, which had reached the most active point in its long history during the decade ending in 1940, continued its growth and a number of new teams were seen in both college and scholastic circles. In 1941, lacrosse was extended for the first time to the mid-west, where teams were organized in several colleges and games were played between them. The season of 1941 again, as had been the case in 1940, saw the largest number of college, club and school teams yet represented in the game. The year was marked by the usual number of strong teams but there have been few years in which there has been the marked difference between the stronger teams at the top, and the weaker teams at the bottom of the lacrosse ladder.

The leading teams in the several sections of the East for the year 1941 were as follows: Johns Hopkins in the South; Princeton in the Central Region; Swarthmore in the Pennsylvania Section; Dartmouth in New England; Syracuse in the extreme North.

Johns Hopkins University was the outstanding team of the year being undefeated in both Intercollegiate and Club competition. Johns Hopkins defeated Maryland, the Intercollegiate Champion in 1940, by a score of 10-3 and out-scored by a single goal the Mt. Washington Lacrosse Club, which was the ranking club team of 1941. In recognition of carrying off both Intercollegiate and National honors, Hopkins received the Wilson Wingate Trophy, emblematic of supremacy in intercollegiate lacrosse, which is awarded each year by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association to the outstanding college team.

The outstanding lacrosse event of 1941, as in 1940, was the North-South Game which was played in Baltimore in June. The outstanding players from the various colleges in the North and South were picked in both the North and the South by Committees of leading coaches and were gathered together in advance of the game for several days' practice. The game in 1941 saw players from 15 colleges meeting in what seems clearly destined to be one of the classics of American college sport. The South was victorious by a single goal in one of the finest games of lacrosse ever played. The North was victorious in 1940 by a single goal, so the score now stands at one all in games between the two regions and 12-12 in goals. The game was played at night under flood lights, at Homewood Field, Johns Hopkins University, before a large and enthusiastic crowd. It was without question the finest and most spectacular lacrosse contest of the year.

The year 1941 brought to American lacrosse a severe loss in the death of William C. Schmeisser, known for many years as 'Father Bill' to most of the players of the game in the South. For approximately 40 years he had been a very prominent figure in the development and promotion of both college and school lacrosse. He was the leading authority on the history of the game, had been a member of the International Olympics Committee and had served in various capacities in the Intercollegiate Association. During his career he was coach at Johns Hopkins University for several years where he developed many outstanding teams.