William George Beers

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Dr. William George Beers, (May 5, 1843 – Dec 26, 1900), is sometimes referred to as the "father of modern lacrosse" for his work establishing the first set of playing rules for the game.

William Beers was involved with lacrosse from a young age. As a teenager in 1856 he created the Montreal Lacrosse Club.^[1] He was selected at age 17 to be a goalkeeper for a Montreal exhibition team that played a match before the Prince of Wales.^[2]

In 1867, as lacrosse was growing significantly in popularity, Beers created the Canadian National Lacrosse Foundation.^[3] Simultaneously, he published the first codified rules for the game. Beer's rules defined the field dimensions, set the number of players per team, and introduced a rubber game ball.^[4]^[5]

Dr. Beers also published a book on lacrosse entitled Lacrosse: The National Game of Canada.^[6]

By trade Beers was a successful dentist. In 1868 he founded Canada's first dental journal, the Canada Journal of Dental Science.^[7] He also served as dean of Canada's first dental college.^[8]