An excellent all-around athlete, John Barsha was a tremendous basketball player and helped spark Syracuse University to a 16-1 record and the National Championship in 1918 as a starting guard. Tom Thorpe, a well-known basketball referee of the time, called Barsha "the greatest player in the country." He was the captain of the team his senior season. Barsha was a speedy guard and a good free throw shooter, the team's designated shooter his junior season.

Barsha's family emigrated from Russia to the United States when he was a small boy. He changed his name from Abraham Barshofsky to Barsha during his senior year in high school to hide his participation in an unscheduled game his basketball team played without the coach's knowledge.

Barsha was also an All-American football player for the Orangemen, lettering four seasons 1916 through 1919, and a catcher on the baseball team. He later played in the NFL; in 1920 he played 3 games as a blocking fullback for the Rochester Jeffersons.

Barsha would earn his law degree and would practice law in Manhattan for several years. His son Jerry would be a television and radio newscaster in the Syracuse area from 1957 to 1989.

John Barsha passed away in 1976.

© RLYoung 2005, 2006