Bill Isaacs

He learned the game on the Six Nations Indian reserve and played during the game's heyday in the 1930s and '40s for Hamilton Tigers and Rochester Iroquois when pro lacrosse regularly drew up to 6,000 people a game.[5] He left the reserve when he was 17, playing professional lacrosse in the United States before returning to Canada to play on teams in various Ontario communities.[4] In 1932, he and his brother Lance led the Haldimand Rifles Indians team to the Ontario Amateur Lacrosse Association (O.A.L.A.) Ontario Championship title in Intermediate Lacrosse.[2] He won the O.A.L.A. Senior A scoring crown 7 times in 8 years from 1935 until 1942 (except for 1936).[2] In 1938 he also won the Jim Murphy Trophy as the most valuable player in the league. Isaacs was a member of two Mann Cup winning teams - in 1942 with the Mimico-Brampton Combines and in 1948 with the Hamilton Tiger team.[2] During his 346-game career, he scored enough goals (777) and assists (467) to be ranked 11th in senior Canadian and professional history.[1] Isaacs was rated the best centres of all-time scoring 700 goals and 1100 points.[6] He was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1965. He was also inducted into the Brantford & Area Sports Hall of Recognition (1984),[7] the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame (2008),[8] the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame (2011),[9][10] and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame (2015).[11][12]

Box lacrosse made its debut in North America in 1931.[13] Box lacrosse was an indoor version of the field game, and borrowed heavily from ice hockey, with team owners selling this sport as "summertime ice hockey.[13] The rules committee made sure that box lacrosse looked and felt like ice hockey by dividing games into three 20-minute periods and by using hockey goal nets and NHL referees.[13] Indigenous players had their own particular groups however were invited when box lacrosse turned into the superior type of the diversion in the 1930s. Six Nations' Bill Isaacs, who drove Hamilton Tigers to a Mann Glass (national senior title) in 1948, was the first superstar of "boxla.[14]

Bill Isaacs had a lengthy and successful career, playing Senior A for parts of 15 seasons before finally hanging up his stick after the 1949 playoffs. His career included stints with: Burlington, Hamilton-Burlington, Toronto Marlboros, Hamilton Tigers, Mimico-Brampton Combines, and St. Catharines.[2] This was a time in Canadian society when Aboriginal people had few opportunities to participate in mainstream sporting events, which were shaped by both racism and ethnocentric distortion;[15] lacrosse, which was originally created within Aboriginal society,[15] was one activity where Aboriginal athletes could excel and be celebrated in Canada.