FIRST SPORT SOCIETY

You think lacrosse means something to Art Strasburger? “I’m fourth,” is what his wife, Stevie, once told him. “It’s the kids, then medicine (he’s an orthopedic surgeon), then lacrosse, then me.” His response? “You’re crazy. It’s lacrosse fi rst, then the kids, then medicine and then you.” Yes, lacrosse has meant a lot to Strasburger over the years, even if it didn’t always come easy. Growing up in Baltimore, he played high school lacrosse at City College on the junior varsity before getting ready for his senior year. “There was a meeting before the season and the coach said there was a jayvee midfi elder that hadn’t scored a goal in two years and he didn’t think he was going to make the team. I was that midfi elder and he was right.”

Strasburger moved on to Princeton where he again played on the junior varsity before doing a little bit of math before his senior season. “We only had one goalie, so I could either be a fourth string midfi elder on the varsity or a second string goalie,” he said.

He opted for the goalie route, where he backed up future National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Cookie Krongard. Following college, Strasburger went to medical school at Johns Hopkins and continued his lacrosse career playing for the Maryland Lacrosse Club. His career took him out West where he continued playing for the Denver Lacrosse Club as well as clubs in Northern California.

He settled in Denver to begin his medical practice and eventually turned to coaching and offi ciating to stay involved in the sport. The sport almost took him away from medicine when he decided to coach the men’s club team at the University of Denver.

“I talked it over with my partners,” said Strasburger. “They agreed that if I wanted to coach the team, they would rearrange my schedule. I coached for two years and that was fun. I seriously considered giving up medicine to coach lacrosse full-time. We went 8-5 one year and 8-6 the next and went out to California and beat Whittier.”

The next year the school made the program varsity and Strasburger went back to medicine. The new coach went 1-14. “I was probably where I should have been in the fi rst place,” he said. His commitment to the sport remained strong though, as he played an integral role in leading the development effort for the Colorado Lacrosse Foundation (CLF), the fi rst regional chapter of the Lacrosse Foundation (one of the organizations that merged to form US Lacrosse). Becoming a leader in the sport was not unusual for the state.

“Colorado has always been on the fringe of the inside of lacrosse,” said Strasburger, referring in part to the prestige of the famed Vail Lacrosse Shootout. The CLF set out to raise the stature of the sport within the state.

“One of the big things was to have lacrosse recognized by the high school activities association to give the sport more legitimacy,” said Strasburger. The chapter utilized the stick loan program, ran tournaments, recruited for offi cials and coaches. “It was mostly hands-on, down in the dirt type stuff.”

The results are clearly evident. Colorado now has two of the sport’s most successful professional franchises; the University of Denver men and Colorado College women have played in recent NCAA tournaments; the Colorado and Colorado State club programs are among the best in the nation; nearly 50 boys’ and 40 girls’ programs competed at the high school level last year; local high school products Christian Cook and Mike Law went on to play for the U.S. men’s team.

It’s a clear success story that Strasburger didn’t see coming. “Never,” he said when asked if he thought lacrosse was be as big as it has become, “either out here or across the country.” He praises the “fantastic leadership” of US Lacrosse Executive Director Steve Stenersen as a reason for that growth and he pledges his fi nancial support to help US Lacrosse continue to bring the sport to new communities.

“The idea of getting it out to all kinds of kids — kids in the inner city. That’s the part of the US Lacrosse mission I really lean towards.”