Best Lacrosse Dynasty? Hobart Lacrosse D3 Powerhouse

Picture this. On March nineteenth, nineteen ninety, tiny Hobart College in Upstick, New York wins its eleventh straight NCAA tournaments, showing it is the most dominant Division III lacrosse team ever from a school that had been playing lacrosse for over one hundred and twenty years, becoming a powerhouse out of nowhere thanks to great coaching and knowledge of the game. But this story goes beyond passions. It goes to a community that fought to keep their team and their rivalries together because it was that important to them. Today, we're going to dive into the history of Hobart College's lacrosse team and how they became this little college that battled the big boys. Let's go. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. So. Hobart College is a private liberal arts college in Geneva, New York, and it started in eighteen eighty two, but really hasn't grown very much throughout the years, as the only averages around sixteen hundred undergrads because small is the way they like it. But that doesn't mean they didn't have big dreams. See in eighteen ninety seven, doctor Joseph Lytton, a Canadian philosophy professor, joined Hobart and introduced the campus to the game of lacrosse. Now, Lyyton was already an experienced lacrosse player, having played at Toronto University, and actually while he was at Cornell, he started the lacrosse team there in eighteen ninety two, and he quickly recruited students to join his squad while he was at Hobart, and the first intercollegiate game that they played was against Cornell in eighteen eight and though the conditions were muddy and rainy, Hobart triumphed with a two to one victory over the more experienced Cornell team. Doctor Laton didn't just serve as the coach. He was that coach and the player despite being the faculty member. Because the rules back then in collegiate athletics wasn't the same as today, anyone could really play as long as we were associated with the school, and under his leadership, they actually had their first winning season in nineteen o two, finishing eight and seven that year, playing mainly colleges around the local area, and he coached there until nineteen o six. Laying the foundation to what would become a powerhouse. And after la cross was introduced at Hobart, it slowly built a reputation. And if you know anything about lacrosse, it's really heavily the East Coast biased mainly played in the East Coast, and if you've ever seen a map of all the schools in Division one lacrosse, you'll be like, where's the rest of it? Because it's so heavily in the New England area and along the coast that you almost don't see anything. There's almost nothing west. There's only a few schools east of even Illinois. It's a very East Coast sport. But that created really fierce rivalries that really laid the foundation for Hobart as they were playing so many New York schools in the Upstate area and throughout most of the twentieth century, Hobart was respected, but they weren't really a powerhouse yet. The team had solid records, but never really blew anything out the water and didn't win championships. That was until Jerry Schmidt came to the school in nineteen sixty eight created a major shift. He was a two time All American at John Hopkins and John Hopkins is known as a powerhouse in Division one lacrosse and they're consistently one of the best lacrosse schools out there. But he brought that level of discipline and ambition to the program that he experienced at John Hopkins to Hobart, and under Schmidt, Hobart's record swored and for eleven years that he was there, he won one hundred and forty two games, only losing thirty four, and they won five five straight national titles from nineteen seventy four to nineteen seventy eight, and in nineteen seventy two they actually won their very first national title, finishing seventeen to one, defeating Washington Washington of Maryland College fifteen to twelve, and in that year they at scored nearly every opponent by ten goals on average, which showed their dominance and featuring five All Americans on that team in eight future Hall of Famers. And then in nineteen seventy nine they actually hired Dave Urick as co head coach and he would fully take over the team in nineteen eighty at Schmid would retire and he became the architect of Hobart's greatest era under Urich Hobart when an astonishing ten consecutive national championships, including the very first NCAA national championship for Division three in nineteen eighty and he a would go on to win thirteen championships in fourteen years and he had a record of one hundred and twenty two and thirty over his coaching career. While at Hobart, when they were only good, they were dominant. They would blow out teams in the Division three level. Now the NCAA has different divisions. Division one, we all know those schools. Those are the schools that play basketball in March Madness their Division one and can give full scholarships out same as lacrosse. Division two can give partial scholarships. Usually not full scholarship is given, but they're still able to give athletic scholarships. And Division three is what's known as pay to play. You can get financial aid, you can get academic scholarships or any other kind of scholarship to the school besides athletic. It is purely you are paying or you are getting scholarship to the school and then you can play. But many think that because of this, Division three isn't as good. But that's not true. Division three can be very very good players and at any sport, division three can go pro and has gone pro, or even one medals in the Olympics. Division three isn't just a joke. It is quality the competition, and sometimes people go there before the great education, and they wouldn't stay at Division three forever. See in the twenty two years between nineteen seventy two and nineteen ninety four, they won thirteen championships and if they didn't win the championship, they at least made the semi finals, which is a crazy thing to think about. That's how good they were in Ricky left after the nineteen eighty nine season. Bj O'Hare continued the streak for another two years in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety one, and would win another one in nineteen ninety three. But in nineteen ninety five, Hobart made a huge decision to elevate their lacross program from Division three to not Division two, division one, and the main reason was to keep their historic rivalries against schools like Syracuse and Cornell. That shows how the culture of these rivalries and the regional poll of this sport was that they wanted to battle these schools that were bigger than them continuously. Their rivalry from Syracuse is the longest standing rivalry and college across, being played every year since nineteen sixteen. It's often built as a David versus Goliath matchup, but Hobart is no underdog and they do not just roll over to Syracuse, who's a powerhouse in Division one. But Hobart hasn't been a powerhouse in Division one. They're a small school again, only sixteen hundred undergrads compared to Syracuse, who has fifteen thousand undergrads. Just that number alone difference between the two schools. Since they're jumped to Division one, they've had good seasons, but they haven't had the success that they had to Division three, and the reason for that is it takes time to build up. They have actually made the NCAA Tournament five times since they're jump up to Division one, including winning their conference tournament in two thousand and sixteen and winning their regular season conference championship in two thousand, two thousand and two, and twenty seventeen. Now they've mostly hovered around five hundred being a Division one and because of this, some of their bored I wanted to drop back down to Division three, and they actually voted because of this due to competition and financial pressure. However, the passionate outcry from an alumni in the Lacross community caused them to reverse their decision just days later and stay in Division one to keep those rivalries going. And after that they actually had some of their best seasons. In twenty nineteen, they actually had their best season, winning eleven games, finishing second in their conference. In twenty twenty, they probably could have had their best season, finishing four and one. They led the nation in scoring, averaging nineteen point six goals a game before their season was tragically cut short, and unfortunately they're still strung to find their way in Division one. It's a tough road to go when you're such a small school, but they truly are focused on continuing the success and their rivalry and their closeness to the community of the Cross in Upper State, New York, and their program knows how to be a powerhouse. It just takes some time to get there. It took them over seventy years to get there three, so it just may take a little while to get there at Division one. I want to thank you for listening to today's daily sports history. If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend. Word of mouth is the best way for us to grow, and by sharing it with a friend, we can bring you even more sports history. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports History.