RPI Lacrosse
In 1941, Harkness became a volunteer coach for a group of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy who were interested in forming a lacrosse club. Through that year and the next, the team practiced and scrimmaged with Harkness leading the way, eventually playing games against four varsity programs. World War II led to the disbanding of the team, but when the school formally established a varsity lacrosse program in 1945, Harkness was asked to become its first coach.
Within a year of its establishment, Ned Harkness had Rensselaer ranked among the best lacrosse teams in the country. In 1948, coming off an undefeated season of collegiate play, he took the team to the Olympic Games in London, England, where the team, representing the United States, would tie the British All-Star team before 60,000 at Wembley Stadium while amassing an 8–0–1 record in nine games played in England.
In 1952, while continuing to establish a serious hockey program, he coached the lacrosse team to an undefeated record and the national lacrosse championship, winning the Wingate Memorial Trophy, which predated the NCAA lacrosse title.
Harkness' combined lacrosse coaching record, both at RPI and Cornell, was 147 wins, 27 losses and 2 ties, in 16 seasons for a .841 winning percentages, one of the best performances by any college lacrosse coach. Harkness was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001.
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