By NU Alum Blair Hearth From the Original 1973 Northwestern Rugby Squad

First, let me say that "first histories" are meant to be corrected. I hope that one of the others of us who played that first season will read this and come forward with some changes. My memories are over 35 years old at this point. I've never written them down until now.

I notice that the roster of players for the 1973 season is rather short of the number necessary for fielding a side. I notice that my name is not on the roster, for example. I suspect that the reason for this is that most of the players that first year came from Northwestern's graduate schools. Most of us had played rugby as undergraduates at other schools. Several of us were from other countries. If I remember things right, we had a New Zealander, an Australian and a guy from South Africa. I wish I could remember their names. The South African was known for his frequent dropkicks, one of which resulted in a goal during our last home game. It was our only (dropkick) goal that season. We also had two guys from Garrett-Evangelical Seminary (Garrett Seminary in 1973.) One of the guys had played rugby for Indiana University. He transferred to another seminary after the first season and I lost touch with him. Can't remember his name either. The other guy from Garrett Seminary was me.>

The winter of 1973, my Indiana friend asked me if I wanted to join him in attending an organizational meeting for the club. I told him that I had two concerns, the first being that we were not Northwestern students. He assured me that he'd talked to Jim Baird and had been told that we were welcome to join the team since it was a club sport. I haven't been to campus in decades and don't know how things are today. But in the early 1970's, Garrett students participated in campus life and academics.

My other concern was that I'd not played rugby before! I was encouraged to go to the meeting anyway. The meeting was held at the University Center. Most of the guys I would play with that season were there. Jim seemed to already know most of them. We each related our experiences with the game. Several of us hadn't played before, but we were told that we were needed. I think that there were about twenty people there, a small number to start with, considering the number of injuries that would take some of us out of the game as the season progressed.

We played and practiced three afternoons a week on a patch of ground on the northern edge of the lakefront near an astronomical observatory, a bit north of where Lakeside Field seems to be today. I don't know if they have improved the pitch since then, but it was rather uneven – this having the effect of increasing the somewhat random behavior of a bouncing rugby ball.

Those of us who were new to the sport had, of course, to learn the basics. The rules were not hard to master. More challenging was unlearning skills from football. We drilled on how to tackle properly. "Not a game of inches," was shouted repeatedly. "No gang tackles. You don't have helmets or pads." I quickly found that I really liked the game. I played in six games, I think. I was a Flanker in the #6 position. At 6' 2" and 180 pounds, I was the smallest guy in the scrum, except for the Hooker. I never scored a try. I didn't get the ball often. But I did my part in each game. When I wasn't playing, I'd officiate as (I've forgotten the exact term) a lines judge. I was loaned to another team at one away game. I think that that game was at U of I. Injuries took out many of us and I found myself playing most of the season's final games. All of this was during my first seminary year. I had a church-related job my second year, so I didn't play the next season. The following year I came to the first practice and was surprised to find that none of the original guys were still playing. I was told that "a few" had returned for the second season, but that I was the only one left from the first year. Shortly after that one practice, I was given another church-related job and had to leave rugby for good. After graduation, I was sent by my bishop to a town in Florida where no one had ever heard of the game.

About six weeks ago I ran into a Northwestern staffer at a business convention. I asked him if they still played rugby at Northwestern. He told me that the team had become competitive and suggested that I find its web site. I did so and joined the alumni forum this week.

I am open to questions about the first season. Let me answer two questions posed by your forum representatives. Who did you play and what were the scores?

Sorry. It's been 36 years. I don't remember the scores or most of the teams we played. I remember playing at U of I. I didn't go to the Big 10 Tournament. But I'm pretty sure that our guys were in it. We played at Wisconsin-Parkside. And we played in an "All-Chicago" tournament on some soccer fields on the lakefront. (We won the first game and lost the second, I think.)

What were the uniforms?

Minimal, I'm afraid. We had purple shorts. But rugby shirts were not readily available back then. They were just showing up at sporting goods stores. Each of us either played in their undergraduate jersey (as long as we weren't playing that team that day) or bought rugby shirts that were as close to NU's colors as possible. Our opponents understood that we were just getting started and didn't give us too hard a time about it. Rugby was a lot smaller a sport (in the US) in 1973. The other teams were glad to have us join in.

We each chipped in for jerseys but we couldn't get a supplier to ship them until the season was over. The second year team wore them. What did they look like? They were very much like the "Lacrosse Rugby" jersey that you see on the official "Wildcats Fan Store" web site (minus the NU logo.)

What did NU students know about the club's activities?

Nothing. We weren't covered in the campus newspaper or its radio station. We were just a club playing an unknown sport.

One afternoon, as we were practicing, we noticed two very large students watching us from the sidelines. One of us recognized them as NU varsity football players. "We'd never lose a game if we had people that big on our team," said one of us. I went over to talk to them. They asked me some questions about rugby. I told them that we knew that they couldn't play with us, but that we wished we had people like them on the team. One of them looked skeptical and replied, "Looks dangerous."

The other said, "Looks like fun."

In the early 80’s, the club’s fortunes picked up, strengthened by a core of graduate students from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Among that core were Bruce Kelm at flanker, a former All American Football star from Lawrence University; Richard LaChapelle at #8 from Princeton University; Hank Slingerland at second row from Cornell University; Dean Sontag at scrum half from Michigan University; and Richard Lopacki from the University of Wales who captained the team at prop. In 1981, the club won CARFU (Chicago Area Rugby Football Union) and placed 4th in the Big 10 championships held at the University of Minnesota.

The club strip was a purple shirt with a 6-inch white band across the chest, white shorts and purple socks. The shirt proved very popular with women from other universities who would always compliment the Wildcats for having such a good-looking strip. No doubt hearing about the fashion kings in Evanston, Playboy magazine came to campus in 1982 and used the Northwestern rugby team as a backdrop for their Fall fashion edition. Ironically, one of the Northwestern players, Mark Dobroth so impressed Playboy they actually used him as the lead male model in the shoot. Mark later went on to have a short career as a male fashion model in the Chicago area, appearing in such famous publications as the Sears Home Shopping Catalog and the Evanston Review. Northwestern won CARFU in 1982 and placed 6th at the Big 10 tournament held at Ohio State. Also in 1982, Northwestern reached the Midwest playoffs, but was stopped by Bowling Green State.

In 1983, the club’s fortunes further improved with the arrival of Rich Cortez as the Director of Finance for the Northwestern Athletic Department. Rich helped recharge the rugby program at Stanford University and quickly took charge of the Wildcats. Using his influence with the University, he secured funding and facilities for the rugby club. With these improvements, many undergrads joined the club. The club was further strengthened when Ted Leland started playing. Ted was the Assistant Director of Athletics for the University, and he proved a brilliant role model for the rest of the club.

The club fielded what is still probably the most successful team ever produced by Northwestern. Captained by Jim Hebson, coached by Richard Cortez as well as player-coach Richard Lopacki, the team won CARFU, placed 2nd in the Big 10, and were ranked 7th in the Midwest Region (the highest ranking ever achieved by a Northwestern rugby team).

The Tight Five were giants, scoring 5 push over tries during the tournament. Also on the team that day, were two players from the NU Football squad, one of which was Steve Tasker. Tasker had been on the Wildcat Football Team but, following injury, could not participate fully during the 1984 season. In early 1985, he was talked into trying Rugby and decided to use the sport as a way to get fit again. Tasker played during the spring season in 1985, and being a gifted athlete, he quickly became an immensely talented Full Back. At the end of the Big 10 championship, he was awarded the MVP trophy. Soon after, Tasker was drafted by the NFL and went on to a long and distinguished career with the Buffalo Bills. Tasker played in 4 Superbowls and numerous Probowls. He was a standout in the NFL and may eventually be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.

Joe Liptay, the Wildcat hooker, was killed in a road accident on Sheridan road in 1986. Joe was a great person and a cornerstone of the rugby team in the mid ‘80’s. All those who played with him will always remember him.

Northwestern continued to enjoy a strong rugby program on campus. The team regularly defeated the still new Kellogg Rugby club and a good-humored, ongoing campus rivalry developed between the two clubs. In 1990, NU Rugby Club suffered a major setback when it was banned from campus for a two-year period for drinking violations.

With the ban lifted, undergraduate student Mark Roesler decided to revive the NU rugby club. With little support from the administration and a shoestring budget, Mark proved highly persistent and successfully organized a team for the fall of 1992. Almost all of the members of the rugby team who had been active before the ban had either graduated or were playing elsewhere and did not want to go back to playing college rugby with an inexperienced team.

Consequently, the 1992 fall team was dominated by guys who had never seen rugby before. Luckily, Mark was able to find a coach for the new team. Richard Lopacki who had played at NU between 1980-1985, and had coached the MIT rugby team on the East Coast from 1985-87, had just moved back to Chicago. Lopacki managed to get Heath Gerdes to come out and help with the forwards, and Andrew Wolfe (ex-NU RFC) to help with the backs. After some well-fought defeats, the team began to improve and finally, on April 17th, 1993, NU won its first game since 1990. From then on, the program began to improve with more students joining the club and the university increasing its support.

When Richard Lopacki’s career took him to Australia in late 1993, the team was very fortunate to secure the services of Tim Moylan, a USA Level 2 coach. Tim was an ex-Chicago Lion, CARFU and Midwest senior select side player. The club continued to grow in strength and results continued to improve under Tim’s guidance. In 1994, the team changed its playing strip from purple shirts, white shorts and purple socks, to black shirts, black shorts and black socks. This fashion change was partially influenced by the NU Football team who had just introduced black into their uniforms. In 1996, Richard Lopacki returned from Australia and assisted Tim Moylan in coaching the club. 1997 saw the departure of both coaches due to work commitments, and the arrival of the current coach, Chuck Hamilton.

Following a rebuilding season in the fall of 1997, the club logged an undefeated league season, capturing the CARFU title and advancing to the Midwest playoffs for the first time since 1985. NU finished in the top twelve of the Midwest tournament. The spring of 1999 saw the men’s side tour to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras tournament, and the founding of Northwestern’s women’s side. The women began with twenty interested players in the spring and grew to thirty-five by the fall of 1999. NU women are now recognized by Midwest RFU as a startup club, and will participate in league play beginning in the spring of 2000. At the same time NU Rugby gained three additional coaches: Tony McCudden, Garrett Ryan and Denise Abramson. In the fall of 1999 the men repeated as undefeated CARFU Champs and finished in the top eight in the Midwest playoffs.

Spring of 2000 saw NU make its first overseas tour. Both the men and women fielded sides in the United Kingdom against teams from Newcastle University, Newcastle, England; Stirling University, Stirling, Scotland; and Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland. That fall, the men fell short against UIC in the finals of the CARFU Cup, losing 10-6. However, the club was not able to travel to the Midwest playoffs due to a lack of available bodies, and was summarily banned from postseason play for two years.

However, this did not stop the 'Cats from having a good spring season, playing Michigan State on their home turf and regaining the Northside Cup against Loyola. The fall season of '01 was a rebuilding period, with a lot of new faces and several key injuries. In the spring of '02, the 'Cats underwent their second overseas tour, to Barcelona, Andorra, and France.

The fall season of 2002 marked another step in the rebuilding process, as the 'Cats finished third in CARFU with a strong showing at the Cup, and showed significant progress in the development and recruitment of younger players. During this time, the inaugural Homecoming Alumni Tailgate was established, and this year will mark the Third Annual Tailgate. What started out as 4-6 guys finishing off a keg in the parking lot has seen significant improvement.

The year and a half following fall of 2002 proved to be a struggle, with wins coming few and far between, and a corresponding downturn of player morale. The rate of player attrition was high. The low point during this period may have been the failure to mobilize enough enthusiasm for a third semi-annual overseas tour, in early 2004. At this point, a new emphasis was placed on team unity, and the fruits of this labor are beginning to show. A significant core of individuals have committed themselves to improvement of Northwestern Rugby through various groundbreaking initiatives (Intra-Campus Sevens Tournament for recruiting, team sponsorship by a local establishment, and renewed committment to winning through hard work). We are confident in our ability to build this team up to its former glory.

In the fall of 2007, a strong incoming sophomore class lead by captain Matt Boucher came back to bring Northwestern to its former glory. Starting the fall season with a nailbiter win versus CARFU powerhouse Loyola Chicago, Northwestern Rugby completed an undefeated season in league play and advanced to the Midwest tournament for the first time since 1999. Such a season proved to be timely, letting veteran hooker Joe Antoinelli make it to the playoffs during his dedicated five seasons with Northwestern Rugby. During this time period, Antoinelli helped keep the team alive by being president, schedule manager, and treasurer for the team at the same time.

Now in 2008, only time will tell how Northwestern Rugby fares...