William George Beers (May 5, 1841 – December 26, 1900)[1] was a Canadian dentist who founded Canada's first dental journal and served as the founding dean of the Dental College of the Province of Quebec.

In addition, he is referred to as the "father of modern lacrosse" for his work establishing the first set of playing rules for the game.

By the early 1860s, Beers was a successful dentist and began publishing articles in journals.

He was selected at the age of 17 to be a goalkeeper for a Montreal exhibition team that played a match before the Prince of Wales.

Some of the rules established by Beers were the size of, and the use of a rubber lacrosse ball, that the lacrosse stick could be any length, but the pocket needed to be flat in the absence of a ball, length of the field to 200 yards (180 m), size of the goal and goal crease, twelve members of a team on the field at a time, and the length of a match to first to reach five goals, or lead by three.

[10] In 2023, students from the University of Leeds Men's Lacrosse Club founded The Beers Cup, created to commemorate William George Beers, which was contested by the men's lacrosse teams at the Christie Cup, an annual varsity competition between the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

His estate donated his massive library of dentistry publications to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario.