The Remarkable Student-Athletes of Morehouse & Colgate: Max Edelstein
Introduction
Archer’s Raiders is an organization that seeks to unify politically progressive fans, students, and alumni of Colgate University & Morehouse College through the passionate support of our sports programs. The namesake of this organization is Samuel “Big Boy” Archer Sr., one of the first Black football players to play for Colgate University and Morehouse College’s 5th President.
What follows this introduction is the fourth of many interviews I plan to host that are designed to showcase the nuance and intellect of current and former Colgate and Morehouse student-athletes. People often have the misconception that athletes are one dimensional; lacking the range to speak on different important issues facing the country today. But the fact is that pro and college level athletes are often intimately connected to their communities and the challenges facing them. These athletes have a unique platform to speak on these challenges and raise awareness about a host of important political issues.
Through these interviews and profiles, you will find that Colgate and Morehouse student athletes all have remarkable stories — and that each of them represents the values that our schools stand for in their own unique ways. Hopefully, the Colgate and Morehouse communities enjoy reading the profiles and watching the interviews as much as I enjoy putting them together.
Max Edelstein
In May of 2009, Morehouse College’s 10th President, the Reverend Dr. Robert Franklin Jr., delivered a Commencement Address that will forever be remembered by Morehouse Men as the “Renaissance Man Speech”. In this address, President Franklin implored his audience to become Renaissance Men and Renaissance Women — men and women who are “well-read, well-spoken, well-traveled, well-dressed, and well balanced… Renaissance women and Renaissance men with social conscience and global perspective.”
He followed this passage about the “Five Wells” with a profound word from Mahatma Gandhi: “Beware of the seven deadly sins of modern life. Politics without principle. Wealth without work. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Education without culture and character. Pleasure without conscience. And worship without sacrifice.”
Principle, work ethic, morality, humanity, character, conscience, and sacrifice are qualities that many strive to achieve, but few manage to acquire. They are qualities possessed by many of the great men and women of history; qualities possessed, for example, by Morehouse Men like Julian Bond and Colgate graduates like Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Thankfully, Renaissance Men and Women who meet the lofty standards of Dr. Franklin are not exclusively confined to the pages of history. Indeed, the modern era is producing individuals capable of such greatness — individuals like Colgate University’s Max Edelstein.
Max Edelstein is a child of liberated Northern California, born into a secure middle-class family to loving parents Laurie, a trial lawyer for Jenner & Block; and Scott, a high school English teacher. Together, Laurie and Scott laid the foundations for the person Max would become — they sparked his interest in politics with daily discussions around the dinner table about civic engagement, they provided the funds to support his interest in computers and technology, and, of course, they introduced him to soccer.
Each of these interests were buoyed by the community that Max was raised in — the community of urban San Francisco. San Francisco is a small, intimate city with a welcoming atmosphere, rich history, and diverse citizenry. Its cosmopolitan culture is shaped by a combination of immigrant populations from Central and South America and East Asia, along with the liberal politics and progressive activism that have been an essential part of the city’s fabric for decades.
One of the products of the melting pot that is San Francisco is a love for soccer that is otherwise scarce in a country occupied by more “American” sports. Indeed, while soccer fields are hard to come by in most of America’s great cities, the sport is extremely accessible in San Francisco, with pitches in every corner of the city. And, for each soccer pitch, there is at least one youth soccer club.
It was through the robust soccer culture of San Francisco that Max developed his passion for the sport, and it was for a club called Yellow Submarines that Max kicked his first soccer ball.
Yellow Submarines is a “micro-soccer” team, and, for the uninitiated, “micro-soccer” is played by toddlers aged 5–7. As one might expect, the game at this stage is not particularly competitive and is primarily about exercise and fun for the kids. Indeed, Max did not get his first real taste of competitive soccer until his Middle School years when he played for a club called Vikings. Vikings enjoyed a great deal of success in their league, and, being a goal-scoring Forward, Max played a key role in much of that success. However, what was more impressive than his accomplishments at the club level were his performances for his Middle School team — a team that was poor for their conference. After establishing himself as a dominant force at the middle school level, scoring goals for fun against inferior competition, Max began to aspire to higher levels of play for school and club.
As Max was transitioning from Middle School to High School, San Francisco was in the middle of reorganizing the structure of youth soccer in the city. The new system would facilitate the development of super-clubs which would recruit the best players from all of the smaller clubs throughout the city. During Max’s youth soccer career he played for two different super clubs — first was SF Glens (8th-9th grade), second was SF Elite Academy (10th-12th grade).
Max’s teenage years were monopolized by soccer. During the winter he played for San Francisco University High, a private school with nationally renowned athletics programs; and during the spring and fall he played club soccer for SF Elite Academy. Balancing his commitment to soccer with his high academic standards was tricky — there were many missed school days due to cross-state road trips with SF Elite Academy — but having a packed schedule at such a young age taught him to manage his time wisely, and the ends ultimately justified the means with Max earning high marks both in the classroom and on the field.
While club soccer is, inarguably, more important than high school soccer to college scouts, Max always felt more of a connection to his high school team than his club team — for whatever reason, the games for University High just meant more. In fact, the most memorable experience of his youth soccer career came with high school team. During his senior season, Max captained his team to a BCL League title — a title that was secured in dramatic fashion with a penalty shootout against hated rival Marin Academy. Ultimately the season ended in defeat in the state semifinals, but having the opportunity to lead the team with his close friends was immensely gratifying.
Throughout Max’s youth soccer career, as the competition grew in level, so did Max’s game. He was always self-driven and self-motivated, and experiencing success at lower levels drove him to work harder and achieve more. Ultimately, Max enjoyed the fruits of his labor on every step of his soccer journey. During the summer after his first year at SF Glens he was scouted for the Olympic Development Program. And, through the exposure he received with SF Elite Academy, and the statistics and accolades he racked up at University High (30 goals, 15 assists, and SFIAC Player of the Year), he was able to achieve his ultimate goal of earning scholarships to play soccer at the college level.
Given Max’s remarkable success on the soccer pitch before college, it may be surprising to find that soccer is the least remarkable part of him as a student-athlete at Colgate University. This is not to say that his commitment to soccer has waned; on the contrary, Max and his fellow seniors just wrapped up their final season at Colgate by rebounding from a winless 2021 season with a 7–4–7 record and 2 victories over schools ranked in the Top 25 in the nation. But, through his time at Colgate, Max has realized that the impact he can have off the pitch far outlasts the goals, assists, and victories he contributed to on it.
Max is an International Relations and Economics double major at Colgate. These majors dovetail nicely, as the practicality and mathematics of economics has provided Max with the tools to use data to solve the long-standing real world problems he’s been exposed to via his International Relations courses. He attributes his understanding of data-coding programs that allow him to use and manipulate data to find causal relationships to his Applied Econometrics Professor and mentor, Pierce Donovan.
While most students would wait until graduation to put these skills to use, Max is already waist deep in the sort of work he wants to do professionally, as an esteemed member of the Lampert Institute.
The Lampert Institute for Civil and Global Affairs is a public policy research institute that selects several students each year to join their ranks as “Lampert Scholars”. Lampert Scholars are tasked with producing research on a pressing public policy issue being dealt with in a different country. Max, for example, spent last summer in El Salvador, studying the ins and outs of their government’s attempt to make Bitcoin their primary currency and to bring their citizens into the financial sphere via a Digital Wallet phone application based in Bitcoin.
When Max isn’t occupied by his research, he enjoys watching classic films, playing basketball, and engaging in political advocacy. Upon graduating from Colgate, he plans on attending grad school and, ultimately, working professionally in the public policy sphere.
Scholar, Athlete, Activist, and Advocate; a global citizen with a social conscience who is dedicated to improving the world — if Max Edelstein isn’t a Renaissance Man, who is?
I had a blast talking to Max for well over an hour, and I can comfortably say that he is one of the most impressive young men I’ve ever spoken with. He was very generous with his time, and I appreciate his willingness to have this conversation with me. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy listening to our discussion as much as I enjoyed participating in it.
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For the first profile and interview of this series featuring Morehouse College basketball legend James Walker, click here.
For the second profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University basketball player Jeff Woodward, click here.
For the third profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University basketball player Oliver Lynch-Daniels, click here.
For the fifth profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University soccer player Bobby Foose, click here.
For the sixth profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University soccer player Alejandro Coury, click here.
For the seventh profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University soccer player Mason Pahule, click here.
For the eighth profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University rower Noha Shahba, click here.
For the ninth profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University rugby player Tommy McHale, click here.
For the tenth profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University soccer player Cason Stafford, click here.
For the eleventh profile and interview of this series featuring Colgate University soccer player Rory Brookhart, click here.
