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.

1940: Lacrosse

The ancient Indian game of Lacrosse, the oldest athletic game of purely American origin and the first game in which Intercollegiate contests were played in the United States celebrated in 1940 its one hundredth anniversary as a white man's game. The season was very appropriately marked by the most brilliant play which the game has yet seen in this country and by the largest number of organized college and school teams to be seen in action.

In no season have so many strong teams been fielded by the Intercollegiate group nor in any recent season have so many close games been seen between the leading Lacrosse tens. The shortening of the field to 80 yards (the outstanding change in the rules for 1940), produced, as its proponents had so long foretold, a definite tendency to equalize scoring, by bringing an increased speed and rapidity of change from defense to attack (such as prevails in modern Basketball). This caused Lacrosse more than ever to live up to its popular slogan of being the 'fastest game on two feet.'

The outstanding teams of the year were Maryland and Johns Hopkins in the South and Princeton, Hobart and Army in the North. Maryland, the 1939 champion among the colleges, was in 1940 undefeated in college competition but lost to the Club champion, Mt. Washington of Baltimore. Maryland shaded Hopkins by a single goal in a game which gave Hopkins its only defeat and marked Hopkins first bid for championship honors since her National championship teams from 1932 to 1934. Maryland as in 1939 was awarded the Wingate trophy as the champion college team of the year. Hobart, the Northern leader, was as in 1938 the only undefeated team of the year, winning its feature games with Syracuse, Cornell and Colgate by decisive scores but meeting none of the Southern leaders. Judging, however, by the comparative scores of Cornell against both Hopkins and Hobart in games played only a week apart, Hobart was fully on a par with Hopkins and Maryland.

Princeton had the stand-out team in the Central region and although defeated by the Southern leaders Maryland and Hopkins, she won victories over her regional rivals Rutgers and Army. Princeton also defeated her traditional rival, Yale, while Yale in turn fell before Harvard so that there was no definite champion among the Big Three.

Army had one of her best teams, losing only to Hopkins and Princeton and handing a decisive defeat to Navy in the annual service classic. Dartmouth again carried off the championship of the New England Lacrosse league and Swarthmore had her second big season in the southern and central regions, being for the second season undefeated among teams of her class.

The 1940 season reached its climax on June 14 when a Lacrosse plan of many years was realized and for the first time in its more than fifty years of existence the Intercollegiate Lacrosse organization sponsored a game between an All-North and an All-South team. The southern team was selected and coached by a committee headed by W. H. Moore, the Navy coach, the other members being Jack Faber, coach of Maryland, and Avery Blake, the Swarthmore coach. The Northern committee was headed by Dr. Laurie D. Cox who has coached so many All-American teams in past International series, the other members of the committee being William Logan, the Princeton coach, F. M. Touchtone, coach of Army, and R. D. Root, coach of Yale.

The details of the game were arranged by the Secretary of the Lacrosse Association John H. Paige of Colgate, himself the center on the All-American team which played in Canada in the 1930 series. The game was played in Baltimore in the municipal stadium, where under flood lights and in a most brilliant exhibition of high class Lacrosse, the Northern team, to the great surprise of all followers of Lacrosse, defeated the All-South team, 6-5. This result was especially surprising since a starting line-up was available for the Southern forces composed entirely of players selected from the champion Maryland team and the runner-up Hopkins team. These two teams produced the bulk of the Southern strength, while the Northern team was composed of players from a considerable number of teams.

Of the thirty players selected for the All-America team nearly all were seen in action in this North-South game since each team was composed of a squad of 20 players. The All-South squad contained players from the following colleges: Maryland, Hopkins, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Loyola, Lehigh, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, and Duke. The squad of the winning All-North team was composed of players from Hobart, Princeton, Army, Rutgers, Yale, Penn State, Dartmouth, Cornell, Union, Syracuse, and Williams.

1939: Lacrosse

Lacrosse, the oldest intercollegiate game in America, achieved greater popularity in 1939 than ever before, as more and more colleges and secondary schools added the sport to their athletic programs. Interest in the sport has grown rapidly in the past few years, and there is spirited competition among players for election to the All-America squad chosen each year by the All-America Board of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association.

The Wingate Trophy, awarded annually to the outstanding team in the nation, was won this year by the high-scoring University of Maryland eleven. Dartmouth carried off the New England Lacrosse Conference Championship for the second successive year, while in the newly-formed Dixie League, which now lists Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington and Lee as members, Duke came out on top. The Mount Washington Club of Baltimore won the National Club championship in a title series with the Baltimore Athletic Club.

Lacrosse is the only intercollegiate game in which a definite and recognized national champion is determined and the sport is characterized by its strict adherence to the traditions of true amateurism. The Wingate Trophy, awarded by the Executive Committee on the general quality of the season's play, is a memorial to the late Wilson Wingate, former Baltimore sports writer and ardent supporter of lacrosse.

Maryland, playing one of the stiffest schedules of the year, had easily the best season's record, with only one defeat. Maryland's lone setback came at the hands of Johns Hopkins, its traditional rival, in the biggest lacrosse upset of the year. In one of the year's key matches Maryland defeated Navy (the national winners in 1938) by the score of 5-3.

With a clear claim to the Southern title Maryland clinched her national bid with a victory over Princeton. Princeton claimed honors in the North by virtue of wins over Army and Rutgers, her closest rivals, and also won the Big Three title.

The popularity of lacrosse has not been limited entirely to large colleges. Excellent teams, capable of holding their own with the country's best were produced by such relatively small institutions as Swarthmore, Hobart and St. John's of Annapolis. There has been considerable evidence of interest in lacrosse in the southwest and several colleges in that section of the country are expected to organize teams during the coming year. Texas Christian, in particular, has been a leader in this awakening of interest in the game.

The supremacy which the Southern teams have maintained since the introduction of the game into colleges, more than 100 years ago, is gradually becoming less marked. Of the twelve ranking teams of the year seven are from the North and five from the South, with Southern teams, however, standing in first and second place.

1938: Lacrosse

Lacrosse in 1938 had its biggest season and more than 100 teams, representing colleges, schools, and clubs were seen in action. In no previous season have so many new colleges and schools taken up the game. The 1938 Lacrosse season was featured by the expansion of the game particularly into the far South where the Dixie League functioned for the first time. The championship of the league which was composed of Washington and Lee, American University, University of Virginia, North Carolina University and Duke was won by Virginia.

The team representing the United States Naval Academy, with a clean sweep of its schedule, wrested the collegiate championship from the 1937 coholders, Princeton and University of Maryland. The Middies finished their schedule with a 10-3 victory over the Cadets of West Point, the largest margin ever piled up in the series between the two academies. Navy was awarded the Wingate Memorial Trophy which is presented annually by the United States Inter-Collegiate Lacrosse Association to the outstanding team of the year.

Following Navy as the strong teams of the country were Maryland, Princeton, Hobart, Army, Rutgers and St. John's of Maryland. The Mount Washington Club of Baltimore led the club teams, while Alexander Hamilton of Brooklyn and Friends School of Baltimore dominated the preps. An All-Star team from Brooklyn beat Friends 8-7 in a post season game.

The stick game was played from Bowdoin in Maine to Georgia and Georgia Tech in the South with box-lacrosse, an abbreviated version being played at isolated points all over the country. This hybrid of the game claimed 10,000 players in the Vancouver-Westminster section of Canada.

Spectator interest varied from 1,000 to 15,000 per game with major interest in the Army-Navy game; and the Navy-Maryland game was won by Navy 8-7 and represented Maryland's first loss in three years.