Tewaaraton Award
The Tewaaraton Award is an award given annually, since 2001, to the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's lacrosse players. It is the lacrosse equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy. The award is presented by The Tewaaraton Foundation and the University Club of Washington, D.C..
| The Tewaaraton Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | To honor the most outstanding male and female collegiate players, and to recognize the Native American heritage of the sport of lacrosse |
| Presented by | University Club of Washington, D.C., Tewaaraton Foundation |
| First awarded | 2001 |
| Currently held by | Pat Spencer, Megan Taylor |
| Website | www |
Lacrosse is one of the oldest team sports played in North America and the award honors the Native American heritage of lacrosse in the name of its award, "Tewaaraton," the Mohawk name for their game and the progenitor of present-day lacrosse. The Tewaaraton Award has received the endorsement of the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders. Each year, the award recognizes one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora tribes.
Trophy
The award winners each receive a trophy of a bronze sculpture depicting a Mohawk native playing lacrosse. It was designed and created by Frederick Kail with the assistance of Thomas Vennum, Jr., a renowned Native American lacrosse historian and author, who consulted with Kail to ensure the trophy's historical authenticity. The 12-inch figure is mounted upon a hexagon-shaped slab of black granite and polished Cocobolo wood. The hexagonal base symbolizes the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes. With some minor decorative exceptions, the stick is a replica of a pre-1845 Cayuga stick belonging to the grandfather of Alexander T. General of the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. This stick was an original predecessor of the modern-day lacrosse stick.[1]
Nomination process
Players are nominated for the award by coaches from all three NCAA divisions during the collegiate season. All Watch List nominees are then screened and selected by two Selection Committees. The Selection Committees are composed of collegiate coaches, one committee for the men and one committee for the women. At the conclusion of the season the selection committees meet to rank the top five male and female finalists. The finalists are then invited to the Awards Banquet, where the Tewaaraton Award winners are announced. In addition to recognizing the top men’s and women’s collegiate lacrosse players, the Tewaaraton Award also recognizes the High School All-Tewaaraton team for both boys and girls lacrosse. This is a regional team which is composed of the best players from both private and public schools in the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia area.
USILA versus Tewaaraton
There is debate in the lacrosse community as to whether the Tewaaraton Award is actually an outstanding player award or whether it should be called a postseason award. The controversy stems from the fact that the awards is usually given to a player who plays well during the season-ending NCAA tournament and from a team which is the winner or runner up in the NCAA Tournament. The Lt. Raymond Enners Award is the USILA Outstanding Player of the Year Award selected by the NCAA coaches, and the Tewaaraton Award recipient has not been the same as the Raymond Enners Award recipient in 5 out of the first 11 years that the Tewaaraton was awarded.[2] Since then, the two awards have agreed almost exactly; in each season but one from 2012 through 2019, both awards were won by the same individual. The only exception in this span was in 2014, when the Enners Award went to one of the two brothers who shared the Tewaaraton Award.
Tewaaraton Award recipients
| Tewaaraton Award Recipients | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Men's Winner | School | Position | Women's Winner | School | Position |
| 2001 | Doug Shanahan | Hofstra | Midfield | Jen Adams | Maryland | Attack |
| 2002 | Mike Powell | Syracuse | Attack | Erin Elbe | Georgetown | Attack |
| 2003 | Chris Rotelli | Virginia | Midfield | Rachael Becker | Princeton | Defense |
| 2004 | Mike Powell | Syracuse | Attack | Amy Appelt | Virginia | Attack |
| 2005 | Kyle Harrison | Johns Hopkins | Midfield | Katie Chrest | Duke | Attack |
| 2006 | Matt Ward | Virginia | Attack | Kristen Kjellman | Northwestern | Midfield |
| 2007 | Matt Danowski | Duke | Attack | Kristen Kjellman | Northwestern | Midfield |
| 2008 | Mike Leveille | Syracuse | Attack | Hannah Nielsen | Northwestern | Midfield |
| 2009 | Max Seibald | Cornell | Midfield | Hannah Nielsen | Northwestern | Midfield |
| 2010 | Ned Crotty | Duke | Attack | Caitlyn McFadden | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2011 | Steele Stanwick | Virginia | Attack | Shannon Smith | Northwestern | Attack |
| 2012 | Peter Baum | Colgate | Attack | Katie Schwarzmann | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2013 | Rob Pannell | Cornell | Attack | Katie Schwarzmann | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2014 | Lyle Thompson | Albany | Attack | Taylor Cummings | Maryland | Midfield |
| Miles Thompson | ||||||
| 2015 | Lyle Thompson | Albany | Attack | Taylor Cummings | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2016 | Dylan Molloy | Brown | Attack | Taylor Cummings | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2017 | Matt Rambo | Maryland | Attack | Zoe Stukenberg | Maryland | Midfield |
| 2018 | Ben Reeves | Yale | Attack | Sam Apuzzo | Boston College | Attack |
| 2019 | Pat Spencer | Loyola | Attack | Megan Taylor | Maryland | Goalie |
Men's awards by university
| Rank | School | Number of Awards | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Syracuse | 2003, 2004, 2008 | |
| T-1 | Virginia | 2003, 2006, 2011 | |
| T-3 | Cornell | 2009, 2013 | |
| T-3 | Duke | 2007, 2010 | |
| T-3 | Albany | 2014 (2x), 2015 | |
| T-6 | Hofstra | 2001 | |
| T-6 | Brown | 2016 | |
| T-6 | Colgate | 2012 | |
| T-6 | Johns Hopkins | 2005 | |
| T-6 | Loyola (MD) | 2019 | |
| T-6 | Maryland | 2017 | |
| T-6 | Yale | 2018 |
Women's awards by university
| Rank | School | Number of Awards | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryland | 2001, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 | |
| 2 | Northwestern | 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 | |
| T-3 | Boston College | 2018 | |
| T-3 | Duke | 2005 | |
| T-3 | Georgetown | 2002 | |
| T-3 | Princeton | 2003 | |
| T-3 | Virginia | 2004 |
Tewaaraton Legend Award
Since 2011, the Tewaaraton Legend Award has been presented to one recipient each year who played collegiately prior to 2001 when the first Tewaaraton Award was presented, whose performance during their college years would have earned them a Tewaaraton Award had the award existed when they played. In 2016, the foundation began presenting both a men's and women's Legend Award.
| Tewaaraton Legend Award Recipients | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Men's Winner | School | Women's Winner | School | ||
| 2011 | Jim Brown | Syracuse | - | - | ||
| 2012 | Eamon McEneaney | Cornell | - | - | ||
| 2013 | Joe Cowan | Johns Hopkins | - | - | ||
| 2014 | Jimmy Lewis | Navy | - | - | ||
| 2015 | Brad Kotz | Syracuse | - | - | ||
| 2016 | Frank Urso | Maryland | Candace Finn Rocha | Penn State | ||
| 2017 | Peter Cramblet | Army | Cherie Greer Brown | Virginia | ||
| 2018 | Larry Quinn | Johns Hopkins | Amanda Moore O'Leary | Temple | ||
| 2019 | Tom Sears | North Carolina | Kare Emas Borbee | Delaware | ||
Legends awards by university
| Rank | School | Number of Awards | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | Syracuse | 2011, 2015 | |
| T-1 | Johns Hopkins | 2013, 2018 | |
| T-3 | Cornell | 2012 | |
| T-3 | North Carolina | 2019 | |
| T-3 | Delaware | 2019 | |
| T-3 | Army | 2017 | |
| T-3 | Maryland | 2016 | |
| T-3 | Navy | 2014 | |
| T-3 | Virginia | 2017 | |
| T-3 | Penn State | 2016 | |
| T-3 | Temple | 2018 |
Native American Scholarship Program
Since 2006, The Tewaaraton Foundation has given over $130,000 in scholarships to Native American high school lacrosse players through its Tewaaraton Native American Scholarships program.[3] The $10,000 scholarships are awarded annually on a highly competitive basis to one Native American female and one Native American male lacrosse player who are enrolled members of a U.S. tribe. All awards are not only based on the student's athletic performance, but also on their merit, academic achievement, and ambition.
| Tewaaraton Native American Scholarship Recipients | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Men's winner | Nation | Women's winner | Nation | ||
| 2006 | Justin Gill | Oglala Sioux and Seneca Nation of Indians | Lindsey Steeprock | Mohawk Nation | ||
| 2007 | Alexander Jamieson | Seneca Nation of Indians, Wolf Clan | Mia McKie | Tuscarora Indian Nation, Turtle Clan | ||
| 2008 | Emmett Printup | Tonawanda Seneca | Corinne Abrams | Tuscarora Indian Nation | ||
| 2009 | Isaac "Ike" Hopper | Onondaga Nation | Trenna Hill | Mohawk Nation | ||
| 2010 | Kyle Henry | Tuscarora Indian Nation, White Bear Clan | Taylor Hummel | Tuscarora Indian Nation, White Bear Clan | ||
| 2011 | Christopher White | Oneida Nation | Kristiana Ferguson | Tuscarora Indian Nation | ||
| 2012 | Bradley Thomas | Tuscarora Indian Nation | Marissa Haring | Seneca Nation of Indians | ||
| 2013 | Robert McMicking | Cayuga Nation, Wolf Clan | Cassandra Minerd | Onondaga Nation, Eel Clan | ||
| 2014 | Kason Tarbell | St. Regis Mohawk Tribe | Alie Jimerson | Cayuga Nation, Bear Clan | ||
| 2015 | Chaunce Hill | Six Nations Seneca, Turtle Clan | Lynnzee Miller | Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan | ||
| 2016 | Emerson Shenandoah | Mohawk Nation, Snipe Clan | Jade Haumann | Seneca Nation of Indians, Wolf Clan | ||
| 2017 | Liam Anderson | Tuscarora Indian Nation, Turtle Clan | Shayla Scanlan | Seneca Nation of Indians, Wolf Clan | ||
| 2018 | Lyle Warrior | Seneca Nation of Indians | Ivy Santana | Seneca Nation, Wolf Clan | ||
| 2019 | Isaiah Cree | Akwesasne Mohawk, Wolf Clan | Jacelyn and Mirabella Lazore | Akwesasne Mohawk, Wolf Clan | ||
References
- "The Trophy". The Tewaaraton Foundation.
- Men's Lacrosse: Player of the Year Watch Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
- "Native American Scholarships". The Tewaaraton Foundation.