James D. Iglehart

Dr. Iglehart stands out as one of the pioneers of lacrosse in Baltimore, a captain and goalie of the earliest teams for the Baltimore Athletic Club. He helped to organize the Baltimore Athletic Club team and played in its first game on November 23, 1878.

This was the first time lacrosse was played in Baltimore. For the three following years, the Baltimore Athletic Club team, including Dr. Iglehart, gave an excellent performance, playing club teams from New York, Boston, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia; also the Ravenwood Club, the Shamrocks of Montreal, the Tyro Club of Staten Island and the West End Ivanhoe Club. He was also a referee in some of the contests away from Baltimore.

He was the first vice president of the United States National Lacrosse Association in its second year, 1880, and became its president in 1881, succeeding Herman Oelrichs of New York, who had been the association's first president. Dr. Iglehart recieved his B.A. degree from St. John's College in 1872. While there, he was a captain of cadets, captain of the baseball team and stroke on the crew team.

In later years he was a member of the crew of the Undine Boat Club, a member of the Baltimore Cricket Club, president of the Baltimore Athletic Club and a member of the Century Cycling Club of Maryland. In 1875, he received his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania and the M.A. degree from St. John's in 1878. From 1876 to 1934, he had a distinguished medical career in Baltimore as one of its best physicians; also a surgeon for the Fifth Regiment and B & O Railroad surgeon for fifty years.

If it were not for the leadership of the BAC group, including Dr. Iglehart, lacrosse may never have come to Baltimore. The Baltimore Athletic Club team was the first one ever, and they continued to play three years after its 1878 start. Johns Hopkins University began lacrosse in 1883, and many programs followed. The interest generated in Baltimore by the early enthusiasts including Dr. Iglehart is the foundation that made Baltimore the center of the lacrosse world.