Casey Powell, born February 18th, 1976, is easily hailed as one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. Currently Powell has played every season of Major League Lacrosse and holds numerous records in the league.
As a kid in his hometown of Watertown, NY, Casey did not even know what lacrosse was. In fifth grade his gym teacher brought a lacrosse stick into school. Casey and his brother, Ryan Powell, were interested. A couple weeks after discovering the stick, the Powells’ father took them to get their own sticks. They were essentially the first in their town to have sticks and were only playing off of walls at this point. Eventually other neighborhood kids saw them playing and interest grew. This, coupled with the gym teacher playing lacrosse at recess, sparked a local lacrosse boom. Two years later that same teacher started a lacrosse program there and the wildfire that is Powell began to grow.
Casey went to Syracuse hoping to continue his lacrosse dreams. He found them. While at Syracuse he was a four-time All-American (1995-1998). As a senior he clinched attackman and Division I player of the year. In 1998 Casey even made the World Championship Team USA squad. Regardless, he declares the national title they won in 1995, his freshman year, to be his biggest moment in lacrosse to date.
After excessive growth and market testing, Major League Lacrosse played its inaugural season in 2001 with Casey Powell fielding as attacker for the Long Island Lizards. He played as a Lizard in 2001 and 2002 until he was traded in a five-player deal to the Rochester Rattlers. He led the league in scoring in 2002 with 68 points but proved he is team player by coupling that with 30 assists. This massive attacking power places Casey as the all-time score leader for the MLL with 121 points. Not being confined to one league, Casey played for the Rochester Knighthawks in National Lacrosse League 1999-2000 racking up 21 goals and 27 assists totaling 58 points in 19 games. His career total puts him just 13 points ahead of brother Ryan Powell for third place overall.
Resources include: major league lacrosse, Casey Powell interview issued by laxlinks.com, and Syracuse sports history.