Legendary Lynbrook coach Don Roth dies at 80

In the days since their father, Don Roth, died, Jane Roth Sloan and Tim Roth have received hundreds of positive messages and been told dozens of stories about the influence he had on so many people as a teacher, mentor, coach and friend. The texts, emails and social media messages now line the walls of Jane’s home, a reminder of the type of man her father was and the impact he had on the village he loved.

“I get to read them,” Jane said, noting that she had printed the messages and pasted them on green and gold paper — Owls colors — before hanging them throughout the house she shared with her father, who coached Lynbrook varsity baseball for 27 years. “My brother and I, and our kids — his grandkids — we all get to read them to remind us of just how loved he is in the community.”

Don Roth died on Feb. 28 after a battle with cancer. He was 80. Hundreds of members of the community shared stories about and memories of him with his family, many affectionately referring to him as “Coach Roth” or “Coachie.” The messages came from people he coached on the baseball diamond, others he taught health or driver’s education at Lynbrook High School, and still others from friends or acquaintances whom he had helped.

Roth was born on March 7, 1940, to Dorothea Knoop and Henry Roth, and was their second son after his brother Robert. He grew up on Whittier Street in Lynbrook, attended public schools in the village and developed an affinity for baseball at a young age. He grew up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and idolized Gil Hodges. After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Roth eventually adopted the Mets as his favorite team upon their expansion into Major League Baseball in 1962. After growing up embroiled in the Dodgers-Yankees rivalry, Roth developed a strong dislike for the pinstriped team from the Bronx.

“He had two favorite teams: the Mets and anybody who played against the Yankees,” Tim said with a laugh.

Roth graduated from LHS in 1958 after a successful high school baseball career. He went on to pitch at Wake Forest University on a baseball scholarship, where he won the ACC championship in 1962. He earned his bachelor’s degree in education there, and in the decades following, Tim said, his father often donned school apparel out of pride for his alma mater. He went on to earn his master’s from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where he also served as the varsity baseball coach for the Tar Heel’s freshman team in 1964.

After college, Roth enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he became a lieutenant and served in Korea. While there, he coached the 7th Infantry’s baseball team, leading the squad to the 8th Army Command baseball championship in 1965 and ’66, and he was named Coach of the Year by Stars and Stripes newspaper both seasons.

After returning to the U.S., Roth accepted a position to teach health and driver’s ed. at LHS. He went on to coach the Owls varsity baseball team for nearly three decades, all while becoming a beloved figure in the community and amassing more than 300 victories.

Stuart Acker, 60, played for Roth from 1976 to ’78, and said his former coach helped him in many ways as a teenager, but he said it wasn’t until he was in his 40s that he realized how much Roth had helped shape him as a person and they reconnected.

“He wasn’t just a baseball coach,” Acker said. “He was a mentor in life, not just sports. He was a mentor and a friend.”

When Acker visited Roth when he was gravely ill, his former coach gave him a present. When he returned home and opened it, he became emotional upon seeing a crystal baseball with “Love Coach Roth” inscribed on it. The final gift from his coach now hangs in Acker’s office. “For him to say that after all those years was special,” Acker said of the message.

Remy Grossi, 57, who played for Roth at LHS before graduating in 1981, described his high school coach’s knowledge of the game as unparalleled, and said his careful attention to detail helped his team feel prepared for every challenge. Grossi’s sons, Remy and Dan, went on to play for Roth as well. Grossi said he looked forward to receiving periodic emails from his former coach with the subject “WOO,” standing for “Wise Old Owl,” in which Roth shared advice and old stories and photos from past years in Lynbrook.

“His love and passion for Lynbrook, I think, is what he’ll be most known for,” Grossi said. “WOO was a testament to Coach Roth because of his love for Lynbrook. His love for Lynbrook was just tremendous.”

During his time coaching the Owls, Roth planned yearly trips to various Major League Baseball stadiums for his players. Following in their father’s footsteps, Janeand Tim also got into the sport. Jane fondly recalled spending many days in her youth on the diamond on Marion Street, chasing groundballs and keeping the statistics book for the Owls. Tim was a star baseball player at LHS and earned the Diamond Award as the top player in Nassau County in 1990 while playing for his father.

“It was harder for him to coach me than it was for me to play for him,” Tim recalled. “I think just the nerves of knowing it’s your son out there, you have that personal feeling, but you’re also the coach.”

Tim went on to play baseball at Georgia Southern University, and was coached by Jack Stallings, who was at the helm at Wake Forest when his father was there. Don Roth was on the mound when Stallings notched his first career win as a coach, and years later, Tim toed the rubber when Stallings earned his 1,000th victory.

When it came to baseball or anything else in life, Tim and Jane described their father as humble. Though he helped many people in the community in different ways, he didn’t speak about it often. That trait was evident during his coaching career, they said.

Roth’s impact was far-reaching, even in the little things he did that no one knew about. One day, his son asked him why he constantly had dozens of new baseballs in his car. Tim discovered that his father often encountered people having a catch while he was driving, and he would pull his car over and give the unsuspecting participants a new baseball to play with. When a child came to Roth’s door to trick-or-treat on Halloween dressed as a baseball player, they too became the proud owner of a new baseball.

“It’s not just about baseball,” Jane said. “It’s not just about one specific thing. It’s about being a good person. He didn’t just do things for the baseball teams, he did them for everyone.”

Because of Covid-19 restrictions, there were no memorial services for Roth, but a celebration of life will be scheduled as soon as possible, Tim and Jane said. In addition to his children, Roth is survived by his son-in-law, Prentice Sloan, his daughter-in-law, Annmarie Roth, and his grandchildren, Parker, Lily, Ashley and Kelsey. Ashley is the LHS class of 2021 valedictorian, an accomplishment that made her grandfather proud, Tim and Jane said.

In lieu of flowers, the Roth family requests a donation be made in Don’s name to St. John Incarnation Lutheran Church, 13 Blake Ave., Lynbrook, 11563, because their father was heavily involved there and passionate about it.

“Both of us, for most of our lives, have been known as Don Roth’s son or Don Roth’s daughter,” Tim said, “but I’ve been Don Roth’s son for 48 years, and there’s no greater gift than to be known as Don Roth’s son or Don Roth’s daughter. We lost an icon, and there will be nobody like him again.”