SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In every St. Francis lacrosse game, senior Zahra Smith makes things happen. The midfielder and co-captain effortlessly slings around a ball with a pear-shaped netting with nearly the size and rigidity of a small shovel. Her mother, Sabine Goetz, serves as the team's official scorer and dutifully records the stats posted by Zahra and her 20 or so teammates.
Rewind half a school year to November of last fall, when St. Francis basketball hosted its annual jersey ceremony. As she does during lacrosse season, Goetz focused on a number, but this time, not a stat. As is the tradition, she presented her daughter with a black St. Francis basketball tank top. On each side, in red lettering with a white outline was the number 42.
Smith had chosen this number with purpose. These were the same two digits Jackie Robinson wore throughout the entirety of his 10 years with the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the number that Major League Baseball retired across both leagues on April 15, 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson's Dodger debut. It is the title of a 2013 biopic on the game's greatest pioneer.
Goetz knew of her daughter's fondness for Robinson, and upon presenting the jersey, well-wished Zahra to follow in his example. In turn, Smith knows of Robinson's place in American history. The Hall of Fame infielder and Malcolm X, she says, both "kind of get overlooked" when it comes to their roles in the cause of black civil rights, but deserve a place atop the highest ranks of contributors like Martin Luther King.
Not for nothing, but Smith does not stand alone in the esteem she places upon Robinson and his transcendence above the game. John Thorn, now the official historian for Major League Baseball, referred to Robinson as "my great hero among baseball players, and my great hero among Americans" in Ken Burns' famed 1994 docuseries Baseball. George Will offered similar sentments in that series, describing Robinson's career as "one of the great achievements not only in the annals of sports, but of the human drama anywhere, anytime."
"They represent tenacity and always striving," Smith said of both X and Robinson. "It takes more than what you put on the field. That's what Jackie Robinson represents to me. It's not about the game. It's about who you are as a person. It's about helping a person up even if they might be an opponent. It's a reminder to me to be good."
To Smith's credit, she's pretty great on the field, too. Through nine games in 2022, she ranks among St. Francis' scoring leaders with 23 goals, while leading the Troubies in all three "hustle" stats: 21 caused turnovers (lacrosse parlance for steals), 16 ground balls (which measures a player's propensity for gaining possession during live play), and 39 draw controls.
For those unfamiliar with that third quantity, the draw is to lacrosse roughly what the opening tip is to basketball, only it happens after each goal. Imagine if in basketball, the two teams returned to center court for a tip after each bucket. A player who consistently wins the tip would be invaluable. When it comes to lacrosse's draw, Smith dominates. Her leaping ability has her snaring the ball high above, while her stick and positioning skills allow her to scoop up the ball off the turf. When the Troubies posted their first win over Granite Bay in nine years, Smith won seven of the game's 17 total draws.
Smith's abilities on the lacrosse pitch will also take her to the next level. Last fall, she committed to continue her lacrosse career at Delaware State, associate member of the Division I ASUN Conference, and one of the few HBCUs (historically black collegues and universities) to sponsor her sport.
Choosing an HBCU was not part of Smith's initial plan when considering places to play, and she admits not knowing Delaware State had such a classification until the Hornet coaching staff reached out to her. However, the bulk of the recruitment process took place during the year-plus COVID shutdown, a period in which racial incidents both local and nationwide elevated her consciousness of such issues. The HBCU status, Smith says, suddenly became a perfect fit.
"I've gone to predominantly white institutions my entire life. I live with white people, I eat with white people – everything I do. I thought, if I'm going to do something new for college, I might as well have a whole new experience of living, learning and playing with black people."
As a sport, lacrosse itself has struggled with its diversity as well. Delaware State, Howard and the University of District of Columbia remain the only three HBCUs to sponsor women's lacrosse. Those three schools, plus Hampton (which sponsors men's lacrosse), deserve credit for their efforts in growing lacrosse in the black community.
"Sports-wise, I would like to see lacrosse be a more embracing and inclusive sport," said Smith. "It's very white and mostly for rich people. I don't meet those criteria. It should be more diverse and more people should play it."
Hailing from a family that has always embraced sports, Smith took up lacrosse as early as elementary school, but played it more recreationally, alongside basketball. When she got to Sutter Middle School, the two sports began to trade places. Smith began playing club lacrosse, first for Tenacity and later for NorCal RIZE, while continuing basketball and briefly picking up cross country for the purposes of offseason conditioning.
Of course, NorCal RIZE runs under the outstanding tutelage of Julia Southard, who founded the club in 2016, the same year she assumed the Troubie LAX helm. "Each sport I've been on has been a different environment, and I think the lacrosse environment is fantastic," said Smith. "It's amazing. Jules has created a culture that blows my mind. I don't think any sport touches it. I enjoyed playing sports here."
As for that jersey number, Smith wears 25 during the spring season, but only because 42 is not available among the St. Francis lacrosse kits. She says would like to wear 42 at DSU, although that currently appears to be a goalie jersey (Hornet junior Moe Brown claims it in 2022).
Then again, Jackie Robinson didn't always wear 42. At UCLA, his basketball jersey was 18 while perhaps his best sport – football – saw him adorned with a number 28. As a member of the 1945 Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, Robinson wore number 5.
Regardless of the digits on her Hornet jersey next year, expect Smith to stand up for what is right. "In general, I feel any human rights – queer rights, racial rights – are good causes to back up," she says.
Until then, Troubie fans can catch Smith in home action three times this week: on Monday against Del Oro, on Wednesday against Davis, and on Friday against Rio Americano.
