William Harrison was an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach. He was the head coach of Clarkson for a decade after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and provided the team with their only undefeated season.

Career

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1943 William Harrison signed up with the

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at the height of the second world war. Harrison left after three years of service and returned to Walpole,

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to coach at the local

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

before accepting a position to become a professor of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at Clarkson and coach the ice hockey team. Harrison Coached at Clarkson for 10 seasons, winning 3 league titles (after the Golden Knights founded the

Tri-State League The Tri-State League was the name of six different circuits in American minor league baseball. History The first league of that name played for four years (1887–1890) and consisted of teams in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. The second leagu ...

), making 2

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

appearances and providing Clarkson with an undefeated season in 1955–56 season. Because the '56 team had eight seniors that were 4-year varsity players (they would have been ineligible to participate in the 1956 NCAA tournament) the team as a whole voted to decline the invitation to play. Harrison received the 1956

Spencer Penrose Award The Spencer Penrose Award is awarded yearly to the top coach in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by the American Hockey Coaches Association. The finalists for each year's award comprise the conference Coach of the Year winners from each Division ...

despite the eligibility conflict and resigned as head coach two years later. Harrison continued on in an academic capacity with Clarkson, receiving a

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ship from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

in 1959. He was inducted into Clarkson's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, William Year of birth missing Year of death missing American ice hockey coaches Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey coaches People from Walpole, Massachusetts Ice hockey coaches from Massachusetts