It could be argued that the very first seed of local youth interest in lacrosse was planted when a local father left old-fashioned wooden and leather sticks under the Christmas tree for his two sons one December in the 1960s.

The careful watering of that initial seed began in 1974 when 12-year-old Robbie McHenry approached his dad, Bill—then the athletic director and head football coach at Washington and Lee University—with a request.

"No doubt it was Rob who got the ball rolling," said McHenry, 78, now retired and living in Hilton Head, S.C. "One day he said, 'Hey, Dad, do you think you could come out and teach some of my friends and me something about lacrosse?' It was only natural that kids were getting interested with as much success as W&L was having with its lacrosse program at that time," he said Monday.

The Generals' lacrosse program reached its Division I high point that spring, as the team coached by Jack Emmer rolled through its regular season schedule unbeaten before suffering its lone loss—an agonizing 11-10 setback to Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament semifinals at historic Homewood Field in Baltimore.

During that 1974 season, Jim Farrar Jr., one of the two Lexington boys who had received those lacrosse sticks many Christmases earlier, played an instrumental role in W&L's unprecedented lacrosse success. A senior defenseman and co-captain of that illustrious W&L squad, Farrar was an All-South Atlantic and Third Team All-American.

Farrar, like McHenry, has always believed that anyone given a gift—whether athletic, academic, or artistic—has a responsibility to pass it along.

"After my brother (Scottie) and I got those sticks from Dad that Christmas, we started going to W&L practices, playing catch on the sideline, and absorbing the skills and knowledge we watched. Having that opportunity to learn lacrosse skills early, when we were around 9 or 10, was a real benefit for us," said Farrar.

The program sparked by a boy’s simple request to his father has continued in earnest over the intervening decades. Farrar returned to coaching youth lacrosse when his sons, Bois and Lyle, became interested in the game. Bois starred as an attackman at Hampden-Sydney, while Lyle played Division I lacrosse at Rutgers, coached by former W&L head coach Jim Stagnitta. The youngest of Jim and Kitty Farrar's children, Katherine, is now a junior at W&L and was a First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference goalie this spring, helping pace the Generals to the ODAC championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III National Women's Lacrosse Tournament.

In fact, much impact has been made on the world of lacrosse because Rob McHenry made a simple request of his father in 1974—and Bill McHenry said, "Sure, Rob, that sounds like a good idea."

That good idea has grown into the ongoing youth lacrosse program now formally known as the Lexington Lacrosse Club, the same name it adopted at its beginning. Today’s program, under the watchful eye of a 12-member Board of Directors, sponsors two teams: one for elementary school boys and another for middle school boys. It has also served as the catalyst for a varsity high school team for 20 years—two at Lexington High School and the past 18 at the consolidated Rockbridge County High School.

Current LLC Board members include Smith, Farrar, Denny Garvis, Rusty Capps, Doug Bartlett, Dave Evans, Meg Hennis, Rebecca Janney, Rob Straughan, Phillip Holstein, Seth Goodhart, and George Ray. Holstein, Goodhart, and Ray are former players in the program, and Goodhart and Ray have also served as head boys’ lacrosse coaches at RCHS.

Another group of local parents, spearheaded by David Millon, began a similar girls' lacrosse program nearly two decades ago, which also continues today.

The Lexington Lacrosse Club’s 5th–6th and 7th–8th-grade teams completed their 2010 seasons last Saturday with games at Brewbaker Field in Lexington, played before a large and enthusiastic crowd.

Doug Smith is the current president of the LLC Board. And guess what? He caught the lacrosse bug about the same time Jim Farrar was carrying his stick and dreams off to other places before returning to Lexington over 20 years ago. Smith was first hooked while watching a W&L game in Lexington.

"My brother, Curt, was attending W&L, and I was a freshman at the University of Richmond. I went up to visit him in Lexington, and we went to see a W&L lacrosse game (in the mid-70s). W&L whipped Virginia. And I was hooked," Smith said.

Smith and his wife have 10 children—five boys and five girls. All five sons have played or continue to play what Farrar calls "the fastest game on two feet."

The Smith family lived in Virginia Beach while Doug attended graduate school. "I was concerned that our family had kissed the game of lacrosse goodbye," Smith said wryly. "What a great thing it was to discover this program here."

For several years, the middle school team functioned as part of the Lylburn Downing Middle School athletic program, but budget realities eventually threatened its continuation. "We all have to give (LOMA Principal) Rich Dowd credit for tipping us off well ahead of time so we could organize a new approach," said Smith.

When told that the program continues to prosper, McHenry chuckled and said, "I can't say that surprises me. Parents and students were always willing to pitch in and help without getting in the way. When I initially agreed to do it, I told everyone we had two rules. The first was that all parents were encouraged to get involved in organizing travel, raising money, and maintaining our fields—but they were not to be involved in what happened between the lines.

"We also promised that every player on our team would see action in every game, and we had over 50 one year. We even got other teams to agree to play a fifth quarter to help ensure everyone who practiced got to play."

He chuckled again, recalling the early years. "The first two years, the kids had sticks but not much else. So we would do drills and just learn stick work. Imagine that—all we did was practice, but nobody seemed to mind."

In the spring of 1976, the team arranged a four-game schedule, primarily against junior varsity teams from area private schools.

The club’s first game was played on April 17 at W&L’s upper practice field, now the W&L Turf Field, against the Virginia Episcopal School junior varsity. The eager youths bolted to a 5-1 halftime lead on their way to a 6-2 victory. Johnny Reardon led the Lexington attack with two goals, while Reid Perry, Willis Smith, Tommy Imeson, and Mark Morgan each scored once. David Miller and Jesse McGuire notched assists, and Mark Saunders was outstanding on defense, along with goalie Johnny Clark.

The team suffered its first loss in its next outing, succumbing 7-6 to the St. Anne's-Belfield junior varsity. Smith recorded a goal and two assists, and Holstein added two goals. Clark made 13 saves. The day after Smith watched W&L defeat Virginia 15-9, the fledgling club lost 7-5 to a middle school team from St. Paul's School of Baltimore. Scoring that day were Todd Minnix, Andy John, Reardon, Miller, and Holstein, with assists from Smith, Perry, and Holstein. Clark made 15 saves.

"I could not have coached those guys by myself," said McHenry. "We were lucky to have some law students who helped us over the years. I coached a lot of teams in my life, but those youth lacrosse teams hold a special place in my memory bank. It was something to see how quickly they picked up the game, and many of those fellows went on to play in college."

The team finished 7-1 in 1979, playing only varsity teams, in what would be McHenry’s final season as head coach. "Those guys had become pretty good players. They had been willing to learn and practice the fundamentals—not every youngster is willing to do that," McHenry said.

The team gave McHenry a fitting sendoff with a 16-6 win over North Cross. LLC led just 5-4 at halftime, and McHenry expressed his displeasure at the break. Andy John, who remains the leading career scorer in Denison University lacrosse annals, scored six times, as did John Payne. Imeson and Ray each added two goals. And in his father's final game as head coach, Rob McHenry also scored. Goalie Chip Phillips made 12 saves.

The team celebrated the season with a post-game cookout, but McHenry remembered, "We gave out no trophies and no awards; we were all equals on that team. I'm grateful that Rob asked me to do it. Thinking back, it was a chance to work within my world while stepping outside of it."

After leaving W&L, McHenry served as athletic director at Wooster College from 1991 until his retirement.

Former W&L standout Mark Derbyshire coached the team in 1980 and 1981. Buddy Atkins then led the team from 1982 through the 1994 RCHS season. A middle school team was created in 1989 by the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization, coached by Chad Joyce, a club standout who played collegiately at Springfield College.

Subsequently, Chuck O’Connell—who had been an assistant to Jack Emmer during W&L’s historic Division I run—coached the middle school team for several years before being succeeded by Farrar. For many years, the club’s middle school teams participated in a Charlottesville-based league. In 1998 and 1999, Farrar’s teams went undefeated. W&L students have served as club coaches for the past several seasons.

Reflecting on this long history, one cannot help but think of the old sing-along:

"The head bone's connected to the neck bone; the neck bone's connected to the back bone…"

A stick under a Christmas tree, and a son's request of his father—and the next thing you know, 36 years of youth lacrosse are about to roll into 37.

by doug Chase

McHenry 's 197 4 Gift To Son Spawned Local, Youth Lacrosse Club