| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | Walpole, Massachusetts |
| Playing career | |
| 1941–1943 | Dartmouth |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1948–1958 | Clarkson |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 127-47-6 .722 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1951 Tri-State League Champion 1956 Tri-State League Champion 1958 Tri-State League Champion | |
| Awards | |
| 1956 Spencer Penrose Award 2008 Clarkson Athletic Hall of Fame | |
| Records | |
| Highest winning percentage one season: (1.000) | |
William Harrison was an American ice hockey coach. He was the head coach of Clarkson for a decade after World War II and provided the team with their only undefeated season. [1]
After graduating from Dartmouth in 1943 William Harrison signed up with the Marines at the height of the second world war. [2] Harrison left after three years of service and returned to Walpole, Massachusetts to coach at the local high school before accepting a position to become a professor of civil engineering 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), making 2 Frozen Four appearances and providing Clarkson with an undefeated season in 1955–56 season. [3] 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. [2] Harrison received the 1956 Spencer Penrose Award despite the eligibility conflict and resigned as head coach two years later.
Harrison continued on in an academic capacity with Clarkson, receiving a fellowship from the National Science Foundation in 1959. He was inducted into Clarkson's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. [2]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarkson Golden Knights Independent(1948–1950) | |||||||||
| 1948-49 | Clarkson | 8-5-0 | |||||||
| 1949-50 | Clarkson | 4-8-2 | |||||||
| Clarkson: | 12-13-2 | ||||||||
| Clarkson Golden Knights(Tri-State League)(1950–1958) | |||||||||
| 1950-51 | Clarkson | 12-2-1 | 4-1-0 | 1st | Tri-State League Tie-Breaker (Win) | ||||
| 1951-52 | Clarkson | 10-5-0 | 3-3-0 | 3rd | |||||
| 1952-53 | Clarkson | 9-9-1 | 1-3-1 | 4th | |||||
| 1953-54 | Clarkson | 7-8-2 | 1-4-0 | 3rd | |||||
| 1954-55 | Clarkson | 18-4-0 | 4-2-0 | 2nd | |||||
| 1955-56 | Clarkson | 23-0-0 | 6-0-0 | 1st | |||||
| 1956-57 | Clarkson | 19-3-0 | 4-2-0 | 2nd | NCAA Consolation Game (Win) | ||||
| 1957-58 | Clarkson | 17-3-0 | 5-0-0 | 1st | NCAA Consolation Game (Win) | ||||
| Clarkson: | 115-34-4 | 28-15-1 | |||||||
| Total: | 127-47-6 | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||