The old saying goes that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you could say the same thing about the 2025 state champion Salem High lacrosse team. It was 34 years ago that Bob Rotanz coached the first Salem High team on a field that had nothing in common with the Roman Coliseum.
“We played some games at the Baptist Home,” said Rotanz. “Charlie Hammersley had the field lined for us. It wasn’t great, but it was something.”
Rotanz goes way back with lacrosse in the Roanoke Valley. He played on the 1978 Roanoke College NCAA national championship team with Joe Dishaw, his partner as owners of Mac & Bob’s Restaurant in Salem. The Salem institution opened in 1980 and has a lacrosse helmet and crossed sticks in the logo.
So, when Patrick Henry High went looking for a lax coach in 1990 it wasn’t surprising they came looking for Bob at the downtown Salem location. The Patriots had the first public school varsity lacrosse team in the Roanoke Valley and Rotanz agreed to coach the team.
“They had a schedule and uniforms and everything, and the coach they had lined up left the school district in January,” said Rotanz. “I told them if they couldn’t find anyone, I’d do it.”
Finding folks who knew the rules and nuances of lacrosse in 1990 was a tall task. Most who met that standard were former Roanoke College players who settled in the valley, like New York native Rotanz. Bob took over the Patriot team but had to juggle it between practices and his fledging business, which started with a bunch of stools as a sub shop and was growing by leaps and bounds.
“It was tough because I was the only coach,” said Rotanz. “Every day for practice I had to drive to PH to catch a bus that took the team to Victory Stadium. Then the bus went back to the school and I had to drive back to Mac & Bob’s. It took me from two o’clock in the afternoon until six every day.
“It was a long season. There weren’t any other lacrosse teams in the area so we had to play good private schools like VES(Virginia Episcopal School). I remember we lost one game 25-0.”
Chad Scott, a student at Salem High, was working as a cook at Mac & Bob’s and he took notice. Chad was developing an interest in lacrosse and he pressed Bob to start a team with Salem kids.
“He wanted us to have a Salem High team,” said Rotanz. “I told him to give me 20 kids who want to play and I’ll coach ’em.”
Chad did better than that, he found 23. Good to his word, Rotanz agreed to coach the Salem High team and didn’t leave PH dry, convincing Chris Pollack to take over the Patriots. In addition Salemites Nelson Davis and Tommy Blair started a team at Cave Spring and Vinton also started a team, giving the valley four high school teams. Unlike PH the Salem, Cave Spring and Vinton squads were club teams, not officially affiliated with their respective high schools.
“We weren’t school affiliated so we had to raise money for everything,” said Rotanz. “We were going to have car washes for uniforms and equipment when Glenn Thornhill asked me how much it would cost. I told him about $2,500 and he said he would buy the equipment but don’t tell anyone. People asked me where I got the money and I told them we had two car washes and we did really well.”
Rotanz enlisted his former teammate at RC and restaurant co-owner, Dishaw, to be his assistant. Again, going back to the roots of lax, Joe’s son Joey would go on to be a standout player at Salem High and Roanoke College and he’s an assistant on the 2025 state championship team.
Salem native Terry Murphy, who had a reserved seat at the bar at Mac & Bob’s, also asked Bob to help. Murphy was a standout football player for Eddie Joyce at Andrew Lewis High but knew little about lacrosse. That wasn’t a problem because the kids didn’t either, and “Murph” was eager to learn. So, Rotanz had a 23 player team, two assistant coaches and new uniforms and equipment. All he needed was some wins.
That didn’t come easy. The Spartans lost their first five games shuttling between the Baptist Home, Green Hill Park, the VA Hospital field and, on a good day, the practice field at Roanoke College. Their first game was against Vinton, who had a recreation program initiated by upstate New York native Jarrott Brogdon. Jarrott loved the game and he coached, officiated and sold lacrosse equipment out of the back of his station wagon.
“We lost something like 10-4,” said Rotanz. “PH played Cave Spring on the same day and Pollack, Davis and Blair were down at Mac & Bob’s drinking some beers. When I came in they asked how we did and I just said 10-4, but I didn’t say who won.
“Soon Bill Schaaf(an RC grad who refereed games) came in and said ‘Salem got beat down by Vinton’,” Rotanz continued. “Tommy Blair joked that ‘Jarrott went to Books-A-Million and bought a book about lacrosse and beat you by six goals,’ and everyone got a good laugh.”
But, as the old saying goes, he who laughs last, laughs best. After five losses the Spartans got the first win in program history on April 28, 1991. Brian Saul scored eight minutes into overtime for a 6-5 Salem win.
“The overtime seemed like half an hour,” said assistant Dishaw after the game. “It was really exciting for the kids and the coaches.”
The Spartans won their final regular season game, then prepared for the four-team Valley Cup Playoffs. The Spartans beat PH in the semifinals and took on favored Vinton in the championship game. The game was tied 6-6 with just over a minute to go when the Spartans had a “man up” opportunity.
“We had one extra-man play and it never worked all year,” said Rotanz. “But this time we ran it to perfection and Brian Thornhill scored the game winner. After he scored I told them in the huddle if we get the faceoff take it behind our goal. Not at midfield, not in front of the goal. We want the ball to be as far away from the other goal as possible.”
Salem held on for the 7-6 win and claimed the valley championship with a season record of 4-5. Spartan sophomore Steve Allen was named tournament MVP.
Sadly, Thornhill died at a young age but his legacy lives on. He had a yearly award named in his honor and Brian’s nephew, Oliver Farber, was a junior on this year’s Salem High state championship team.
“The kids had so much fun,” recalls Rotanz. “No one had any lacrosse experience but they picked it up pretty quickly. They were predominantly one-sided but, relatively speaking, they weren’t that bad.”
Rotanz coached the team for two more years before recruiting David Turk, a teacher at Salem High, to take over the team. A Roanoke Catholic and Washington & Lee graduate, David had done some officiating and started a club team at Roanoke Catholic High in 1975. He coached the Celtics for five years, then took a job at Hampden-Sydney College as assistant coach for lacrosse and football. Turk lived in the gym that year while dating his future wife, current Salem Mayor Renee, but returned to the valley after the spring season. He took a teaching job at Salem High and coached the volleyball team to a state championship in 1997.
“I felt good with David taking the team,” said Rotanz. “I knew he loved lacrosse and he was at the school so he could recruit kids.”
Turk guided the program from a club team to a full varsity team beginning with the 1998 season. By this time the recreation program was booming and the kids on the team weren’t picking up a stick for the first time as high school students. Salemites like Bob Johnson, Mike Brightwell and Chad Custer were instrumental in building a rec. program that taught Salem kids skills at a young age.
“We had some good players,” said Turk. “John Humphries was a really good player and went on to play at VMI. We had some other good players, too, but we didn’t have the depth like the team does now.”
Dave was head coach for 18 years, including 16 as a varsity team. He’s now retired from teaching but still volunteers with the Salem High team. He was on the sidelines with the Spartans when they won the state championship on June 14th at Charlottesville High.
“I still enjoy it,” said Turk. “I’ve always been in it for the kids.”
Meanwhile, Rotanz is clearing some space on the walls at Mac & Bob’s, which is filled with pictures of athletes past and present from all sports.
“I’ve been meaning to put up a picture of that first team but I had trouble finding all the names,” he said. “I’ve finally found every name, and I’m going to put it up right next to the picture of this year’s state championship team.”
PHOTO BY BRIAN HOFFMAN
