Max Baria, a 17-year-old high school senior from Bay St. Louis, is a good-looking, soft-spoken, highly intelligent young man, who emerged this basketball season as one of the best high school players in Mississippi.
Rick ClevelandBaria, who stands a slender 6 feet, 8 inches tall, last Saturday helped St. Stanislaus to the State Class 3A Championship. This Saturday, he will play for the Mississippi team in the annual Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game (2 p.m.) at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College. His story – actually his and his family’s story – is one worthy of telling and perhaps re-telling.
Where to begin?
We probably should begin nearly three years before Max was born. That was in August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, demolishing the dream home of David and Marcie Baria and their three children on Beach Road in Waveland. Something far, far worse happened a month later. Darden Baria, David and Marcie’s oldest child and only son, became mysteriously ill and died at the age of 10. The Barias later learned that Darden died of rabies, probably the result of a bite from a rabid bat on a camping trip.
Readers should know the Barias were – and remain – good friends of this writer. In all my life, I have never witnessed such grief as the Baria family endured. They were, in a word, broken.
David Baria and son Max at the State Capitol.Says David, a lawyer and former state senator and representative, “You never, ever get over something like that. You just don’t. You just have to find better ways to cope.”
Says Marcie Baria, a retired lawyer, “I knew almost immediately, and I don’t know how I knew – but I knew there was going to be another child in our lives.”
They tried. First, David underwent a vasectomy reversal. That didn’t work. They tried in vitro fertilization. That didn’t take. They decided on adoption and listed the preference of a male baby, and the wait began.
“We were on the list nine months and heard nothing, not a thing,” Marcie says. “Finally, I called to ask what was going on. The answer we got was that it was really difficult to find a white baby boy.”
To which Marcie responded, “Who said anything about the baby being white?”
Not more than a week later, the Barias received a call from the adoption agency that a possible baby had been found. A young unwed mother was considering putting her as yet unborn baby up for adoption. The birth mother was white, the father was Black.
That baby was Max, who was born May 30, 2008, 21 inches long and 7 pounds, 8 ounces, with gorgeous brown eyes that seemed as big as saucers.
Max Baria“The first time I held him and he opened those eyes, I was just blown away,” Marcie now says. “He was just perfect.”
And now, nearly 18 years later, she puts it this way: “He saved my life.”
“When we first started talking about having another child, David told me, ‘Before we have another child, we need to get ourselves emotionally right,’” Marcie says. “I told him that he had it backwards, that I wouldn’t be right until I had another child.”
It is no understatement to say that since birth Max has been smothered in love, from Marcie and David and his older sisters Merritt, 29, and Bess, 27.
“The girls were so excited when Max came home,” Marcie says. “We all were. I think, after what we had been through, we were all determined that we weren’t going to take a single second of Max’s life for granted.”
Says David, “All his life, Max has been enveloped in a world of people, both Black and white, who have just loved and supported him.”
Five-year-old Max with sisters Merritt, left, and Bess.It helps that Max makes friends easily and has had many of the same close friends since kindergarten at Coast Episcopal School. Says David, “There’s about seven or eight of them and they are like brothers.”
David Baria says his adopted son was still a toddler when it first dawned on Max that his skin was different than that of those he lived with. “You could see it,” David says. “Max would look down at his arm and then put it next to mine and compare. I told him, ‘Son, it’s just skin. We’re all the same.’”
The Baria family does get some strange and questioning looks when out in public.
“It’s not like it was back the ’60s, nothing blatant,” David says. “You see the second glances, kind of like ‘what’s going on here’ looks. There’s not been any overt racism. Well, there was only one time when Max was at a sailing camp. There were four kids in a boat and the other three were white. One of the kids called Max the n-word. Max never said anything to us about it, and he wouldn’t. But we heard about it from the man who ran the camp, who apologized and told us that one of Max’s friends slugged the kid in the nose, and that was that.”
For his part, Max Baria says he doesn’t see anything unusual about his life or his upbringing. What might seem strange or unusual to others is just the way it has always been for Max. Marcie and David are simply Mom and Dad. Merritt and Bess are his loving older sisters. He knows he has an older brother, Darden, who died before he was born. The rest of the family has told him all about Darden.
Learning has come easily for Max, who has a 3.6 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in rigorous advanced placement classes and a 29 score on the ACT.
He played all the sports until the ninth grade when he decided to concentrate on basketball. He once won an MVP award at Mike Bianco’s Ole Miss baseball camp. He also excelled in youth soccer, as did Darden.
Marcie Baria with her slightly taller son, Max.He says he loves basketball most because “it’s such a team sport” and because “when you really work at it, you can see yourself getting better.”
Daniel Grieves, who has been Max’s coach since the eighth grade, says Max’s best basketball is ahead of him. “He’s going to get bigger and a whole lot stronger. He’s competitive and he’s so intelligent. Some people would say he’s quiet and reserved, but what I love most about him is that he stays on such an even keel. He never gets rattled, no matter the situation.”
Doctors have told the Barias that X-rays of Max’s growth plates indicate he could add another two or three inches in height. When ask how often he shaves, Max answers, “Once a week, maybe.”
In the days before the transfer portal, a player with Max’s height and skill level likely would receive several Division I college basketball scholarship offers, probably red-shirt his first year and be given time to develop as a player. Now, with the portal, coaches are looking for more seasoned and physically developed players who can help right away
Max, whose goal is to eventually play D-1 basketball, was recruited by several small colleges and junior colleges and chose the junior college route at Jones in Ellisville, where Newton Mealer has consistently put together winning teams. Mealer believes young Baria has barely touched the surface of what he can become as a basketball player, provided, that is, he dedicates himself to the weight room and continuing to develop his skills.
“Great kid, great family,” Mealer says. “We can’t wait to get him in our program.”
Meanwhile, David and Marcie Baria are preparing for life in an empty nest and most likely a lot of 90-mile trips to Ellisville.
Not long ago, Marcie received a call from Darden’s kindergarten teacher who has stayed in touch through the years. The teacher said she had been going through some old things in storage and found a record she said was Darden’s favorite. Each day, when the children came in from recess, she would let one choose his or her favorite song to play. Darden’s fave was a song called “Happy Adoption Day.”
Marcie never knew about the song back then but tears well in her eyes when she talks about it today.
“It’s almost like Darden is sending a message to his brother Max,” she says.
A couple stanzas of the lyrics will tell you why:
“There are those who think families happen by chance
A mystery their whole life through
But we had a voice and we had a choice
We were working and waiting for you
No matter the name and no matter the age
No matter how you came to be
No matter the skin, we are all of us kin
We are all of us one family.”
St. Stanislaus senior Max Baria, center, is guarded by Booneville’s Camryn Hampton, left, and Elijah Dukes during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, left, is guarded by Booneville’s Camryn Hampton during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, center, is guarded by Booneville’s J.J. Simmons, left, and teammate Erik Dukes during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, left, grabs a rebound over Booneville’s Elijah Dukes during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, center, and teammates listen to assistant coach Jerrod Rigby during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game against Booneville, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, right, defends against Booneville’s Caden Ruth during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game against Booneville, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayMelissa DiFatta, left, and her brother David Baria, right, watch Baria’s son Max Baria, a senior forward at St. Stanislaus, compete during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game against Booneville, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, left, tips the ball in for two over Booneville’s Camryn Hampton during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayBooneville forward Camryn Hampton, left, drives to the basket against St. Stanislaus senior forward Max Baria during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, left, snags a rebound over Booneville’s Camryn Hampton during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodaySt. Stanislaus forward Max Baria, left, defends against Booneville’s Camryn Hampton during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayMelissa DiFatta (in yellow) and her brother David Baria, center, watch Baria’s son Max Baria, a senior forward at St. Stanislaus, compete during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game against Booneville, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayDavid Baria, standing at left, applauds his son Max Baria and his St. Stanislaus teammates’ third quarter effort during the Boys Class 3A semifinal game against Booneville, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayHence then, the article about he saved my life high school basketball star max baria has filled a void for his family was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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