During Bill Harrison’s 10-year tenure as Clarkson’s head coach, the Golden Knights hockey program was considered one of the best in the nation, enjoying considerable success throughout the 1950s.
From 1948-58, the Knights, with Harrison at the helm, amassed a 127-47-6 overall record. During his last four years behind the bench, Clarkson compiled an amazing stretch of 77 victories in 87 games, including an impressive run of 37 consecutive victories on its home ice. The third head coach in the program’s history, Harrison posted a .722 winning percentage, the best ever at Clarkson.
Harrison directed Clarkson to seven winning campaigns, its only unbeaten season, and the program’s first two NCAA Tournament appearances when the national playoff was limited to the four best teams in the country.
He coached three All-Americans, two-time winners Art Smith, Eddie Rowe and Ed MacDonald. Harrison became the first Clarkson coach to earn the Spencer R. Penrose Memorial Trophy as NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 1955-56.
A distinguished professor in the college’s Civil Engineering Department, Harrison came to Clarkson in August 1948 to begin his teaching career. Harrison graduated from Dartmouth College in 1943, and was one of the finest hockey players to ever wear the green and white at Dartmouth. After serving three years in the USMC, he was a teacher and coach at Walpole, MA High School before coming to Clarkson.
One of the most renowned seasons in college hockey history happened during the winter of 1955-56 when Harrison guided Clarkson to a 23-0 mark, 
the first perfect campaign in the NCAA since 1947. The Knights capped off the remarkable feat by defeating arch-rival St. Lawrence 7-4 in Potsdam.
With St. Lawrence defeated and the celebration on the ice over, having moved down to Market Street, Harrison walked out of Clarkson Arena arm-in-arm with his wife Marge all smiles after completing the only perfect season in Clarkson’s history. With the festivity rumbling in the background, Harrison remarked, "I mean we beat them all. Michigan State, Harvard, Boston College, all of them. I mean we were unbeaten."
Considered by many knowledgeable Knight fans to be the greatest Clarkson team ever, the 1955-56 squad was the first Clarkson team to be invited to the NCAA Championships. The Knights, however, refused to go. Clarkson had eight seniors who were four-year varsity players and under NCAA rules were ineligible. The team voted not to go without them and turned down the tournament bid.
After posting the perfect season the year before, Clarkson skated to a 19-3 overall record and made its first ever showing in the 10-year history of the NCAAs to cap off the 1956-57 season. Although the Knights lost to Colorado College 5-3 in the semifinal round at the Broadmoor Ice Palace in Colorado Springs, they came back to defeat Harvard 2-1 in double overtime of the consolation game giving the Green and Gold the unofficial title of Eastern Champions.
Harrison retired following the 1957-58 season after guiding the Knights to a 17-3 record and their second consecutive berth in the NCAA Tournament. In his final game as Clarkson’s head coach, the Green and Gold defeated Harvard 5-1 in the consolation game of the national playoffs to once again gain the mythical crown as Eastern Champions.
Although he was no longer guiding the hockey team, Harrison continued to make a great impact on the College, devoting his time entirely to teaching and engineering. An Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Harrison was awarded a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellowships for graduate study in 1959.
At one of the many meetings and banquets honoring Harrison upon his retirement as hockey coach, Clarkson’s All-American goaltender Ed Macdonald stated, "Mr. Harrison has the ability to make work in the classroom easy. He has the talent to teach fundamental play in hockey, to develop winning teams. But school comes first. His emphasis is on studies."
Today, the most outstanding player on the Clarkson hockey team is honored with the prestigious Bill Harrison Most Valuable Player Award.
