It's also a sport very few of the parents played, and this too has been part of the lacrosse revolution. Unlike almost every other youth sport, lacrosse has such a small percentage of participants whose parents were players. The result is that it is the child and not the parent who often is the more knowledgeable about the sport. In addition, fewer parents are critical of the officials or coaches, because the parents simply have no idea what they are watching.
"It's a new market, and the kids are the ones who really take ownership of it," Morrow says. "It's one of the few sports where your dad isn't going to tell you what to do. When I first brought home a lacrosse stick, my parents didn't know what it was. That discovery factor really is attractive to kids. There's a cool factor associated with it. You're part of a team. You're part of an athletic experience, and it's all your's. It's not your parents'."
Ultimately, that's what David Morrow is about. He has always been unique, unafraid to think differently. He has taken chances. He has been passionate about what he believes.
Warrior is the family business, as his wife Christine, also a Princeton alum, has long been his co-worker as well, even as they have begun to raise their children, three-year-old Samantha, two-year-old Kevin and newborn Jessica.
The Morrows, whose company grew out of an idea for snowshoes, now have 40% of the market share and oversee the most visible lacrosse brand in the world.
"When it comes to style and image, we try to surround ourselves with the kinds of people who have the same beliefs and interests," Morrow says. "We have excellent staff of young, energetic people. They're very creative. We have a tagline internally: creative, youthful enthusiasm. Whenever we approach something, we ask how we will make it relevant and fun. You have to have a great idea, but you also have to have a twist to it.
"It's realizing that you go out and get something done, and that's what a lot of people are afraid of doing. My personal foundation to go out and start Warrior came from the confidence that grew out of playing lacrosse. Some of the best friends I still have are guys I played lacrosse with. It's great to win games and championships, but there's so much more to it. A lot of it is camaraderie. A lot of it is about being part of a team and what you can learn from that. That's what we're about."
What he's about can be seen on almost any spring day.
They're everywhere, these kids. They play a game--lacrosse--that largely did not exist to their parents. They throw and catch. They cradle. They put on all the stuff and hit each other and bunch up around the ball. They try to shoot behind the back like their heroes.
They are all his disciples, this generation now playing his game. Their numbers are staggering; they stretch from one end of the country to the other.
All of these kids, all playing lacrosse, none of them able to identify him by name, none of them able to comprehend his impact on them, none of them able to understand that they wouldn't be playing this game without him.
They have no idea that David Morrow has changed the very nature of the game--their game; they have no idea that in the world of lacrosse today, David Morrow's influence is everywhere.