Lacrosse Strategy to Naval Intelligence

By Jo Anne Sabas Palmore English '77

Entering UMBC as a geography major, Elsberg took a few political science courses as a requirement and found he liked them. He thought political science was a "good jumping board to law school, the CIA or a master's degree." He augmented his major with four semesters each of Russian and Spanish and a semester of German. He credits "guys" like political science professor Lou Cantori, "He made me think of issues that were relevant_what sowed the seeds of communism and what was happening in the Middle East," says Elsberg.

Elsberg speaks with deserved pride of being UMBC's Outstanding Male Academic Athlete of 1988, which he considers one of his best achievements. He played defense on the lacrosse team. "Lacrosse," he says, "taught me to balance things_travel, practice time, schoolwork and personal relationships."

"Michael came through the lacrosse program with a core of five guys," explains former lacrosse player and assistant lacrosse coach Ron Smith, sociology '76 and M.A. instructional systems development '95. "They were a special bunch of guys. Every single one of them did well academically and on the lacrosse field. They understood early on the importance of college athletics_teamwork. And today, like Michael, they all have strong friendships, family lives and careers that are on track."

After graduation from UMBC, Elsberg entered the Navy, expecting to stay only four years, but now it's been 10 years and he plans to stay for 20. He's earned master's degrees in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College and in business administration from National University. He's currently stationed at Headquarters Marine Corps in the Navy Annex, Arlington, VA.

He and his wife Diane (Kopsidas) Elsberg, health science and policy '89, have a three-year-old daughter, Maria Victoria.

Jo Anne Sabas Palmore owns a professional writing service business.