Robert M. "Bogie" Griffith

Robert M. "Bogie" Griffith retired federal agent, dies at age 59
Times News.....August 6, 2005

Robert M. "Bogie" Griffith, a Coaldale native who rose in the ranks as an undercover federal agent with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau (ATF), following an outstanding high school and college football career, died Thursday (August 4th) in Cape Canaveral, Fla., where he had resided several years. He was 59.

He had been in ill health several years.

Born in Coaldale, he was a son of the late Russell and Mary (Katchurak) Griffith.

He was a graduate of Coaldale High School in 1964, and was co-captain of the school's final football team before it merged into the Panther Valley Jointure.

Griffith went on play, as a two-way tackle, at Moravian College where he lettered four years.

He was named to the all-Middle Atlantic Conference team two years, and was named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference's Player of the Week during both his sophomore and junior years.

His college roommate, Glenn Grigg of Allentown, remembers what a tough player Griffith was.

"When he was a sophomore we played a game against Wagner College from Staten Island, N.Y." Grigg reflected. "They had two-time Little All American tight end, Rich Kotite on their team, and they were defending conference champions. Bogie played head-to-head against Kotite all afternoon and after the game Kotite came over to our locker room, asked where Number 47 was, and shook his hand, telling Bogie he was the toughest guy he ever played against in his four years in college."

Kotite later went on to a successful career as a player with the New York Giants, and later coached both the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles.

After graduating from Moravian, Griffith taught high school English and coached football briefly in Allentown, before joining the ATF where he worked as an undercover agent.

Lansford native, Bill Reese, a former Secret Service agent who was assigned to several U.S. Presidents, and who is now Special Agent in charge of the Federal Air Marshal Service's Orlando Field Office in Florida, remembered his old friend.

"Bogie was such an icon to those of us who grew up at that time," Reese remembered Friday. He was even more so to me when I began my federal career. He was already a legend in federal law enforcement circles in the Baltimore/Washington area in the mid 1970s.

"This was based upon the fact that he was such an effective undercover agent. At that time, he was the youngest ATF agent to be promoted to management. I was so proud to know him personally at that time."

Following an illness, Griffith retired from federal service when he was in his mid-30s. He later owned and operated a successful bar, The Grant Street Saloon, in the Inner Harbor section of Baltimore, for several years.

Griffith is survived by his brother, David, who resides in England; his former wife, Diane (Lapenna) Griffith; and several cousins.

No funeral service is scheduled. He requested a fishing boat friend of his to sprinkle his ashes at sea.