Neal Powless is an

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

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 extensively ...

player from the

Onondaga Nation The Onondaga people (Onondaga: , ''Hill Place people'') are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois (''Haudenosaunee'') Confederacy in northeast North America. Their traditional homeland is in and around present-day Onondaga ...

near Syracuse, New York. He is the son of Chief Irving Powless Jr. and brother to Barry Powless and Bradley Powless. He was a three-time All-American in

field lacrosse Field lacrosse is a full contact sport, full contact outdoor men's sport played with ten players on each team. The sport originated among indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans, and the modern rules of field lacrosse were initiall ...

at Nazareth College. Powless also played on the Iroquois Nationals at the

World Lacrosse Championships The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as a ...

in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006. He has also played for several professional

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada in the 1930s, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's official ...

teams, including the

Six Nations Chiefs The Six Nations Chiefs are Canadian Senior box lacrosse team from Six Nations of the Grand River. The Chiefs play in the Major Series Lacrosse of the Ontario Lacrosse Association. The Chiefs are six-time Mann Cup National Senior Champions. Most ...

of the

Ontario Lacrosse Association The Ontario Lacrosse Association (Ontario Lacrosse) is a not-for-profit sport organization and a member association of the Canadian Lacrosse Association, the national governing body for lacrosse in Canada. The Ontario Lacrosse Association is the ...

. He played on 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 ow ...

of the

Major Indoor 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, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

in 1997, when they won their first title. Powless continues to be involved in the game through coaching box lacrosse teams as well as traveling across the United States doing field lacrosse camps. Neal Powless has been coaching the Dutch Box Lacrosse program since their first European Championships in 2017. At th
2019 World Lacrosse Men's Indoor World Championship.
the Dutch placed 8th (ranked 17th coming in).

References

Iroquois nations lacrosse players Sportspeople from New York (state) American Mohawk people Buffalo Bandits players Living people Native American sportspeople Nazareth Golden Flyers men's lacrosse players Sportspeople from Syracuse, New York Lacrosse in Syracuse, New York Year of birth missing (living people) Onondaga people {{Canada-lacrosse-bio-stub