March Alumnus of the Month: Steve Cohen

When did you play?
I moved to the Ann Arbor area in October 1976 (from Schenectady, NY) to work as an engineer for Bechtel Power Corporation. I began playing right away as well as refereeing. In Fall 1977, with injuries getting the better of me I decided to pick up the whistle full-time. I developed a deep passion for refereeing.

While refereeing full-time, I remained a club member and trained and socialized with the club as before. Many times after refereeing a UM match, I would host the post-match get-together at my home on Textile Road in Ypsi. How many referees do you know that do this?

I left Ann Arbor in October 1984 moving to South New Jersey, near Philly.

I’ve returned for many Olde Blue Reunion weekends, enjoying the renewal of old friendships. The Michigan Rugby spirit will never die.

Any special honors?
Being part of the Michigan RFC was an honor unto itself. I am still honored to be part of the Olde Blue connection.

As a referee I was honored to be Chair and/or Match Secretary of the Michigan Rugby Referees Society (1977-84) and Chair of the Midwest Rugby Referees Society (1980-82).

In 1980, I worked with Greg Rose to help coach the first UM Women’s club which was founded by Sue Chase and a few others. It is great to see how they have thrived and the success they have found.

Favorite memory or memories?
Winning the 1977 Last Rites of Spring Tournament as a member of the DaDas XV. On Saturday after the match while most of us were soaking away our tired muscles in the hot tub at the hotel, the young son of Cleland Child’s girlfriend remarked “it doesn’t get any better than this”. Wise words from an 8 year old. At the tournament social on Saturday evening, the team (forgot who) we were scheduled to play in the Championship final on Sunday had some players who were “trash talking” about how they were going to kick our butts. Michigan rugby was never about talking a good game, so we showed up for the final more ‘fired up’ than usual because of this and beat the stuffing out of them. In fact, with about 10 minutes to go, they were so “beat up” that their Captain asked the referee to end the match because they had enough. He didn’t and we didn’t slow down until the final whistle, led by the “A” Train – Herb Hopkins.

After winning this event, we went to Traverse City to play in the Cherry Pit tournament. I also agreed to referee a few matches. When we got there, I found out that Bob Brick (Traverse City) and I were the only “real” referees. As a result he and I refereed every match at tournament and needless to say, I never played. It was a long tiring weekend and then on the way back to A2 in Rory O’Connor’s white panel van we ran out of gas on Rt. 23 late Sunday night only a few miles from our destination. Rory, as gracious as usual, took the walk to get gas.

In November 2010, the DaDas held their first reunion in the Philadelphia / Southern New Jersey area. It was a full weekend of memories relived with truths that be told or as we of the Gray Hair Society say, truths as best we remember them to be. Herb and Toni Hopkins hosted the gala Saturday night dinner party at their home.

What are you doing now?
I am still refereeing, primarily college matches. Most of my my time and energy is currently devoted to promoting Small College Rugby through NSCRO. I started doing this in 2002 and formed NSCRO in 2007. Check it out at www.nscro.org. This year, on April 28-29, our men’s National Championship will be held at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado. We have 160 men’s and 60 women’s D3 clubs participating in our national playoff system.

I also manage the MARS Golden Oldies team and have traveled with MARS to World Golden Oldies Festivals since 1987 all over the world including New Zealand (twice), Australia (three times), Ireland, South Africa, France and more.