The William C. Schmeisser Award is an award given annually to the NCAA's most outstanding defenseman in men's college 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.[1] 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.[2]
| Year | Player | School | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Tyler Campbell | ||
| 1943 | George Riepe | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1944 | Fred Allner, Jr. | ||
| 1945 | Charles Guy | Navy | |
| 1946 | Bob Fetters | ||
| 1947 | Fred Allner, Jr. | Princeton | |
| 1948 | John McEnery | ||
| 1949 | Lloyd Bunting | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1950 | Kin Yellott | ||
| 1951 | Joe Sollers | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1952 | Bill Hubbell | Maryland | |
| 1953 | Jack Johnson | Army | |
| 1954 | Stan Swanson | Navy | |
| 1955 | John Raster | Navy | |
| 1956 | John Simmons | Maryland | |
| 1957 | Ben Glyphis | Army | |
| 1958 | Walt Mitchell | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1959 | Don Tillar | Army | |
| 1960 | Bill Carpenter | Army | |
| 1961 | Mike Byrne | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1962 | Bob Fuelhart | Army | |
| 1963 | Mike Coughlin | Navy | |
| 1964 | Jim Campbell | Navy | |
| 1965 | Pat Donnelly | Navy | |
| 1966 | Hank Kaestner | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1967 | Hank Kaestner | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1968 | Carl Tamulevich | Navy | |
| 1969 | Mike Clark | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1970 | Greg Murphy | Navy | |
| 1971 | John Burnap | Cornell | |
| 1972 | Tom O’Leary | Army | |
| 1973 | Mike Thearle | Maryland | |
| 1974 | Boo Smith | ||
| 1975 | John Lawlor | Navy | |
| 1976 | Mike Farrell | Maryland | |
| 1977 | Chris Kane | Cornell | |
| 1978 | Chris Kane | Cornell | |
| 1979 | Mark Greenberg | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1980 | Mark Greenberg | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1981 | Bob Henry | Army | |
| 1982 | George McGeeney | UMBC | |
| 1983 | Steve Byrne | Virginia | |
| 1984 | Tom Haus | ||
| 1985 | John DeTommaso | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1986 | Tom Haus | North Carolina | |
| 1987 | Tom Haus | North Carolina | |
| 1988 | Johns Hopkins | ||
| 1989 | Dave Pietramala | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1990 | Syracuse | ||
| 1991 | Graham Harden | North Carolina | |
| 1992 | Brian Burlace | Maryland | |
| 1992 | David Morrow | Princeton | |
| 1993 | David Morrow | Princeton | |
| 1994 | Reid Jackson | ||
| 1995 | Dan Radebaugh | Maryland | |
| 1996 | Tyler Hardy | ||
| 1997 | Brian Kuczma | Johns Hopkins | |
| 1998 | Princeton | ||
| 1999 | Ryan Curtis | Virginia | |
| 2000 | Marshall Abrams | Syracuse | |
| 2001 | Ryan Mollett | Princeton | |
| 2002 | Syracuse | ||
| 2003 | Michael Howley | Maryland | |
| 2004 | Lee Zink | Maryland | |
| 2005 | |||
| 2006 | Michael Culver | Virginia | |
| 2007 | Cornell | ||
| 2008 | Nick O’Hara | Duke | |
| 2009 | Michael Evans | Johns Hopkins | |
| 2010 | Ken Clausen Ryan Flanagan | Virginia North Carolina | |
| 2011 | John Lade | Syracuse | |
| 2012 | Johns Hopkins | ||
| 2013 | Tucker Durkin | Johns Hopkins | |
| 2014 | Joe Fletcher[3] | Loyola | |
| 2015 | Matt Landis | Notre Dame | |
| 2016 | Matt Landis | Notre Dame | |
| 2017 | Tim Muller | Maryland | |
| 2018 | John Sexton | Notre Dame | |
| 2019 | Johnny Surdick | Army | |
| 2020 | None | (Season canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic) | |
| 2021 | JT Giles-Harris | Duke | |
| 2022 | Will Bowen | Georgetown | |
| 2023 | Gavin Adler | Cornell | |
| 2024 | Jake Piseno | Albany |
| Rank | School | Awards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | ||
| 2 | 10 | ||
| 3 | 9 | ||
| 3 | 9 | ||
| 5 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 6 | ||
| 7 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 5 | ||
| 9 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 3 | ||
| 10 | 3 | ||
| 12 | 2 | ||
| 13 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 1 |