Ross Powless

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Ross Powless, born Alexander Powless on September 29, 1926, near Brantford, Ontario, was a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Six Nations reserve. He died May 26, 2003. Powless is considered one of the greatest Canadian lacrosse players and is often called the father of modern lacrosse. He helped revive box lacrosse in the 1950s and served as an ambassador for lacrosse and Indigenous people. He was the father of Gaylord Powless, another lacrosse star.

Powless played for the Peterborough Timbermen, whose team won the Mann Cup four straight times from 1951 to 1954. He was the most valuable player of the 1953 series, winning the Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy. In 1956, as player-coach for a Hamilton team, he won the league scoring title and most Ontario Lacrosse Association trophies, missing only the goalie trophy.

After his playing days, Powless coached All-Indian teams to national titles, including the Rochester Chiefs to the Can-Am Lacrosse League title in 1969. He also coached a team featuring four of his sons to the North American Indian Lacrosse Tournament championship. He won the Tom Longboat Award twice for Canada’s outstanding First Nations athlete and was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1969 and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. In 2020/21 he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame as a lacrosse builder.

Powless worked as a carpenter and helped build the Burlington Skyway Bridge in 1956; his son Gary helped with the twin bridge in 1986. He helped form hockey and lacrosse leagues on Six Nations and served as a band councillor and administrator. He organized the Iroquois Nations Cup in the 1960s and 1970s and received a 1997 volunteer service award from the Ontario Municipal Recreation Association.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he coached Brantford Warriors, a team that included four of his sons—Gaylord, Gary, Harry, and Greg—and won the Canadian Senior B championship in 1968. He was married to Margaret Wilma Powless for 55 years and had 14 children, 27 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.