Gaylord Powless

Who was Gaylord Powless?

Gaylord Powless was a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation Indian reserve near Brantford, Ontario. His father Ross was also a highly regarded player.

He won the Tom Longboat Award as best First Nations athlete in Canada when he was 17. He was then recruited by the Oshawa Green Gaels junior lacrosse team, which he led to four consecutive Minto Cups from 1964 to 1967; he was chosen as most valuable player in the series in 1964 and 1967. He went on to a long, successful career in professional and senior amateur lacrosse with teams in Detroit, Syracuse, New York, Montreal, Brantford, Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Brampton, Ontario as well as with the Six Nations team.

He and his father are the only father and son both elected to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. The Ohsweken, Ontario Arena is named for him.

A cousin, Delby Powless, played attack at Herkimer CC and Rutgers,where he was an honourable mention All-American, and now plays the box game professionally.