Roger Barth, 84, Still Falling in Love With Lacrosse

SEVERN, MD. — Suiting up on a stuffy summer evening at Archbishop Spalding High School, several dozen lacrosse players perform pregame preparations prior to a Maryland Lacrosse League tilt.

Each athlete carries his own story — entangled with why they play the game — but none of those tales parallel this 84-year-old long pole’s lifelong lacrosse love affair.

He flew in that morning from his summer home on Lake Ontario, where the locals line up to see the octogenarian catch air on water skis, and left early from his D.C. tax law office to head up the beltway for his game.

Roger Barth’s relationship with the sport began in the 1950s, when he grew up as the youngest of five brothers in Buffalo, N.Y., hardly ever hearing the word “lacrosse.” He played baseball and tennis in his childhood, while swimming “an awful lot.”

But before Barth departed his hometown to attend Princeton, his older brother, Phil, paid him a visit.

The West Point graduate, who played for the school’s varsity squad, carried a firm command.

“He said, ‘Roger, when you go to Princeton, you will play lacrosse,’” Barth said. “So, I said, ‘Yes sir.’ I saluted my brother and went out as a walk-on at Princeton.”

Although his experience extended to simple games of catch with his brothers in the backyard, Barth quickly rose the lacrosse ranks at the Ivy League institution. Halfway through his freshman year, he made the varsity ranks and never looked back.

For the next four years, he ate, slept and breathed lacrosse, gravitating to his defensive role. He loved to put in a hit, developing a patented poke check persistent in his arsenal more than a half century later.

After graduating from Princeton with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics in 1960, Barth returned to upstate New York to pursue his legal passion at SUNY Buffalo.

While the game hadn’t yet trickled into his hometown, Barth held no interest in hanging up his cleats.

“I didn’t want to give up lacrosse because I was really in love with it,” Barth said. “I started to talk around and couldn’t find too many people that were interested, so I put an ad in The Buffalo News.”

From there, he and other local players banded together, forming the Buffalo Lacrosse Club. Once they had a team, finding opponents proved another challenge.

The squad traversed the region to find a game, taking on local Native teams. From Tonawanda territory to the Tuscarora’s stomping grounds, Barth said his team could always find an intense contest filled with hard checks and showstopping stickwork.

His teambuilding efforts led to the formation of the Upstate New York Lacrosse League, setting the wheels in motion for the game’s gradual growth in the area.

Six years after graduating cum laude from law school, Barth’s career called him down South, where he headed for a crash course with one of the country’s preeminent lacrosse scenes.

“I get down to the hotbed of lacrosse in the Baltimore-Washington area, and it was like being in heaven,” Barth said.

LIVING IN BETHESDA, MD., Barth and his wife raised six kids, and he served as Deputy Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service before returning to private practice in 1974.

With the mountain of responsibilities in his life, Barth always found time for the game he loved. Only now, it became a family affair.

“Since I was a little kid, we’d go to the games,” said Krista Barth, one of Barth’s daughters. “He’s just never not played in his life.”

Barth reveled in the abundance of lacrosse opportunities in his new hometown, finding countless leagues and teams to play with. He said the sport allowed him to quickly assimilate into his new environment, helping him forge relationships and join an expanding, supportive community.

Holding family at the forefront, Barth chose not to pursue a lucrative corporate route that would take time away from his loved ones and passions.

His family spent summers on Lake Ontario, where he began the tradition of flying back and forth during the week to work and step back onto the lacrosse fields that became his sanctuary.

“He’s a brilliant tax attorney, but as good of a lawyer he is, he’s an even better dad,” Krista Barth said. “His dedication and commitment have translated into everything we do.”

As the years ran on, Barth’s speed slowed from his days at Princeton, but he more than made up for it with his drive and vigor. He played year-round, finding box lacrosse leagues for when the cold winter months rendered outdoor play difficult.

The natural defenseman could hardly imagine deserting his post as a crease protector.

“The thought of not playing would not have occurred to me,” Barth said. “Fortunately, I stayed pretty healthy — I can’t think of a time I missed a season.”

While he’s managed to avoid the brunt of the injury bug in his almost seven-decade career — which has spanned the length of 13 U.S. presidencies — Barth’s competitive spirit often leaves him in the line of fire. His daughter said he’d come home from games “black and blue” but carrying a wide smile that could light up any room.

This sentiment reigned true even as a shot to the ribs sidelined him for two weeks.

As Barth returned to his alma mater for the annual alumni game several years ago, his innate defensive instincts took over, blocking a hard shot with his side that subsequently knocked him off his feet.

He stayed in the game, playing through pain for three more quarters, before aches sent him to the ER two days later.

Barth had cracked three ribs. Two weeks later, he was back on the field like he’d never left, feeling something he could only describe as “magical.”

“Everything goes away, except the game,” Barth said. “No matter what I have going on in my personal life, work or in business, I just get totally focused on the game.”

ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO, Doug Agnes, Sports Development Director at the Western Maryland Chapter of USA Lacrosse, ran into Barth after a long day of games. Agnes had played for multiple teams that day, filling in when squads lacked enough players to fill a lineup.

While he was physically drained, speaking to Barth for the first time instantly reinvigorated him.

“I was 46, thinking, ‘If I could just play into my 50s …,’ and then I see Roger who’s in his 80s,” Agnes said. “I set new life goals, like I could play longer.”

Playing alongside athletes as young as 19 in the Maryland Lacrosse League, some of whom compete at the collegiate ranks and play in the league for extra offseason reps, Barth consistently holds his own.

The Maryland Lacrosse League, like other post-collegiate lacrosse leagues across the nation, is growing and operates year-round. There are marquee annual tournaments, like the event in Lake Placid, N.Y., happening this weekend.

Maryland Lacrosse League founder and commissioner Colin Fagan said he was blown away when he first met Barth — even more so when he saw the defenseman perform his craft.

“He still hangs with everybody, and he still gets a good check in, so I think it’s pretty cool that he’s still playing defense at this level against former D-I, D-II [and] D-III All-Americans,” Fagan said.

For the past 20-plus years, Barth has typically been the oldest player whenever he steps on the field. He has seen countless teammates walk away and friends retire from the workforce, but he keeps pushing forward in all facets of life.

Both Agnes and Krista Barth said the 84-year-old embodies Isaac Newton’s first law, where an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.

But even with several outside forces like the COVID-19 pandemic that could’ve impeded his path — both professionally and on the lacrosse field — Barth’s unwavering determination keeps him moving forward.

“He’s seen enough people stop that he’s never going to stop because you see what happens to people once they [do],” Krista Barth said. “There’s a huge mindset to aging, and my dad just doesn’t recognize that he’s older.”

Barth hits the treadmill at least five days per week, lifts weights, wind surfs, water skis and snow skis during the winter. He said his secret to longevity is simple: stretching and drinking plenty of water.

As for when he’ll be content with walking away from the sport, Barth said he has hardly ever considered putting away his gear for good.

Even with occasional questions posed from his wife that ponder whether he’d be better off coaching, he has issued a similar retort for decades.

“When I’m in a wheelchair, I’ll think about coaching — but I’m just too wrapped up in it,” Barth said. “My family is all used to it. It’s just become part of who I am — not just the athleticism, but the companionship of the guys.”

With what appears to be at least a few more years out on the area’s fields, Barth will continue to push the limits of what many deem possible.

Above all, the husband, father, grandfather, tax lawyer, lacrosse player, businessman and outdoorsman will inspire those close to him, as well as people he merely encounters once, Krista Barth said.

“He is definitely my absolute hero,” she said. “A piece of that is through lacrosse. What he does for something he loves is just a bigger lesson than the game.”