Casey Powell (born February 18, 1976) is a Hall of Fame American former college and professional

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensi ...

player from West Carthage, New York. In 1998, he graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, where he was a four-time

USILA The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the va ...

All-American. Powell was the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

Most Outstanding Player in 1997 and 1998. Powell was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2017. Powell played in

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff ...

, the semi-professional

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initially codified by Canadian William George Beers in 1867. ...

league, from its first year in 2001 through 2016, although he played in only 8 games between 2009 and 2013. Yet Powell ranks sixth in goals (243), second in assists (237), and third in points (484) on the MLL career totals list as of 2017. Powell also tops the all-time MLL playoff point chart with 40. In 2005 and 2014, he won the MLL Offensive Player of the Year award. Powell earned the MVP award in 2014 at age 38. After retiring from professional lacrosse, Powell shifted focus to other business and philanthropic endeavors. Powell started the World Lacrosse Foundation, a non-profit organization for the advancement of lacrosse in 2015. He is a founder of Speed Lacrosse, a modified version of the sport. His two younger brothers, Ryan and Mikey, were also lacrosse stars at Syracuse, where they all wore jersey number 22.

Syracuse University

Powell was a three-time first-team All-American attackman and midfielder, and helped Syracuse win the 1995 NCAA National Championship. Powell is the only player in NCAA Division I lacrosse history to earn first-team All-American honors at more than one position. He even won Most Outstanding Player at two positions, midfield in 1996 and attack in 1998. Powell followed

Gary Gait Gary Charles Gait (born April 5, 1967) is a Canadian retired Hall of Fame professional lacrosse player and currently the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Syracuse University, where he played the sport collegiately. On January 24, 2017, ...

in wearing the revered number 22 jersey at Syracuse University. His two younger brothers, Ryan and Mikey, carried on the tradition as well.

Major League Lacrosse

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, Powell was signed by the Long Island Lizards of

(MLL), and led the Lizards to the first-ever MLL Championship. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, the Lizards won the Championship again, and after the season, Powell was traded to the

Rochester Rattlers Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

in a five-player deal. During the 2004 season, Powell finished second on the Rattlers with 57 points (32 goals, 24 assists, 1 two-point goal).

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

was a career year for Powell. He led the Rattlers in scoring and ranked second in the league with 57 points (27 goals, 30 assists). His 30 assists were second in the league behind

Conor Gill Conor Gill (born February 6, 1980) is a professional lacrosse player who had an exceptional collegiate career at the University of Virginia before going on to the professional ranks. High school and collegiate career Conor Gill was a standout att ...

's 34, and was named Offensive Player of the Week three times in the final four weeks of the season. Casey and his brothers sat out the 2009 MLL season, as they did not report to their teams as of April 1 contract deadline. Powell returned in 2011, and played for the

Hamilton Nationals The Hamilton Nationals were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They began play in the 2009 season in Toronto, Ontario as the Toronto Nationals, becoming the first-ever Canadi ...

. During the 2011 season MLL Championship game, Powell injured his knee and needed to be helped off the field, he had 4 goals in a 10-9 Nationals loss to the Boston Cannons in the MLL championship game, his lacrosse future in doubt. But just days later he announced that an MRI revealed no tear in his ACL, so the injury was not as serious as first thought. After playing only three games in the 2012 season, Powell retired from the MLL, but was drafted by

Chesapeake Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland since 2010. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Bal ...

in the supplemental draft that year. He returned in 2013 and played with the Bayhawks.

National Lacrosse League

Powell was the first overall draft choice of the

Rochester Knighthawks The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are a professional box lacrosse team in the North Division of the National Lacrosse League. They play in Rochester, New York at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. The Knighthawks are own ...

of the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United States and five in Canada. The N ...

(NLL) in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

entry draft and played two seasons for the Knighthawks. He was traded to the

Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are a professional box lacrosse team in the East Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, t ...

in 2001 and signed a contract, but never reported. In 2003, the Bandits traded him to the Anaheim Storm. Powell led the Storm in scoring and was named to the All-Star team in both the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

seasons. The Storm suspended operations after the 2005 season, and Powell was chosen second overall by the

Portland LumberJax The Portland LumberJax (sometimes referred to as the Jax) were a professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL), which started playing in the 2006 season and ended operations after the 2009 season. Angela Batinovich, the owner ...

, although he elected not to play in the 2006 season. In September 2006, Powell was traded yet again, this time to the expansion New York Titans, and was named to the All-Star team in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Following the contraction of the Titans in 2010, the

Boston Blazers The Boston Blazers were an indoor lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The Blazers were based in Boston, Massachusetts, and began play in the 2009 NLL season. The team was owned by Tim Armstrong, the former President of Adverti ...

acquired Powell in a dispersal draft. After one year in Boston, the Blazers also went dark, and Powell was chosen by the

in the resulting dispersal draft. Powell has also hosted a weekly one-hour show on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...

called "Inside the NLL with Casey Powell" since

International

Powell captained the U.S. Men's National Team in the 2006 World Lacrosse Championship, winning the silver medal. He was also the captain of the U.S. Men's Indoor National Team in 2011, where he was named the tournament MVP. Powell was an assistant captain at the 2015 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship. The U.S. won bronze medals in both indoor championships.

Honors and awards

* 1st Team All-American (1996, '97, '98) * 2nd Team All-American (1995) *

Lt. Raymond Enners Award The Lt. Raymond Enners Award is an award given annually to the NCAA's most outstanding player in men's college lacrosse. The award is presented by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and is named after 1st Lt. Raymond J ...

- Division I Most Outstanding Player (1997, '98) * Jack Turnbull Award - Division I National Attackman of the Year (1998) * McLaughlin Award - Division I National Midfielder of the Year (1996) * Four-time NCAA All-Tournament team member (1995–98) * MLL Offensive Player of the Year (2005) * NLL Most Valuable Player (2010) - Powell is the only American player to be named NLL MVP * MLL Offensive Player of the Year (2014) * MLL Most Valuable Player (2014) * Named to Lacrosse Magazine's All-Century Team * LacrosseAllStars.com named Powell the #1 indoor/outdoor American lacrosse player to date (2014) * National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (2017) * Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame (2022)

Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame

On June 18, 2022, Powell was inducted into the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame as one of the eleven members of the inaugural class of inductees.

Career statistics

NCAA

Powell led the country in points and points per game in 1997 (83, 5.93) and 1998 (78, 5.57). 287 career points is tied for 14th all-time with his brother, Ryan Powell.

NLL

MLL

Canadian Lacrosse Association

References

External links

Official websiteSpeed LacrosseCasey Powell World Lacrosse FoundationThe Legacy of Casey Powell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Casey 1976 births Living people Boston Blazers players Major League Lacrosse major award winners Major League Lacrosse players National Lacrosse League All-Stars National Lacrosse League major award winners New York Titans (lacrosse) players Orlando Titans players People from Jefferson County, New York Rochester Knighthawks players Lacrosse players from New York (state) Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse players Lacrosse midfielders Lacrosse forwards Colorado Mammoth players Anaheim Storm players Florida Launch players Chesapeake Bayhawks players Hamilton Nationals players New York Lizards players Rochester Rattlers players