His name has long been associated with Madison High School, where Don Roth was a successful head baseball and golf coach for many seasons, and is a member of the Athletic Hall of Fame.
Now, there is a high-school golf tournament named after the late coach, as well, called the Don Roth Warhawk Invitational.
The first year of what will be an annual 18-hole event was held Aug. 12 at Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton, and included 16 teams, with Madison the host.
Current Madison head coach Jon Eisman, who played golf for the Warhawks under Roth (who died in December), said the plan was to begin the tournament last season. Those plans changed because of the pandemic.
“Coach Roth was a great coach and person and was a big part of Madison and a staple in Vienna,” Eisman said. “We want to build up this tournament and make it one of the biggest and best.”
Roth’s wife, JoAnn, was included in a ceremony near the first tee to begin the tournament. She talked to the Madison team, then turned around and began the competition by smashing a ceremonial first tee shot right down the middle.
“I was nervous about hitting that tee shot for four days,” JoAnn Roth said. “Don would have loved this event and the atmosphere.”
Roth’s Madison baseball teams won 228 games from 1975 to 1995. His Warhawks’ golf teams won numerous championships, including Class AAA state titles in 1990 and 1992.
Roth graduated from George Mason High School in Falls Church, where he also is a member of that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
The initial Roth tournament included many local teams in the area like nearby Langley, Marshall and Oakton and Yorktown from Arlington.
When play began, teams teed off from the first and 10th holes.
The host Warhawks finished fourth in the tournament with a 311 team score. Independence High School from Ashburn won with a 4-under 280 total, the Langley Saxons A team was second with a 3-over 287 and the Yorktown Patriots third with 291.
“Things went well and there weren’t any problems,” Eisman said.
Katelynn Waclawski recorded Madison’s lowest individual score with a 74. Robby Nielsen shot 77, Jacob Peel 79, Owen Taylor 81 and Sonali Chandra 82.
Leading the Langley A team was Alina Ho and Teddy Kim, each with 71s. Audrey Yim shot 72, Pierce Hokenson 73, Catherine Qiu 74 and McKenzie Hiek 81.
For the Oakton Cougars (327 team score, seventh) Allan Hering shot 79; Michael Zhou 82; and Maaz Nadeem, Jeffrey Young and Jai Kathuria had 83s. Haram Kim shot 86.
For the Marshall Statesmen (339, 10th), Michael Stanford shot 75 to lead the way.
For Langley’s B team (353, 11th) Casey Lim was the lowest with an 85.
A day earlier on Aug. 11, many of the same teams participated in the 18-hole Patriot Invitational at the 1757 Golf Club course near Dulles Airport, which was hosted by Yorktown High School. The Riverside A team won with a 299 total.
The Langley A team was second (303) and Madison was fifth (319).
For Langley, Ho shot 74, Yim and Hiek 76 each, Qui 77 and Kim 81. Ho’s score tied her for the low girls golfer of the tournament. The winning total was 72, recorded by two players.
Madison was led by Nielsen’s 76, Peel’s 78 and Taylor’s 79.
For the McLean High school boys, Cab Foose shot 77 and the team 363.
Young, Hering and Zhou each shot 85 for the Oakton A team (343). Jai Kathuria shot 87 for the Oakton B squad (372).
For the Langley B team (377), Lim had a 76.