Gaylor and his fellow ruggers pose for a photo
January’s alumnus of the month comes in the form of one of the key players in the transition period of the club in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Ryan Gaylor played for both sides as the two diverged after transferring to Michigan from the Air Force Academy. Read what he has to say about his time with Michigan Rugby below.
When did you play?
I transferred to UM from the United States Air Force Academy in 1998. I had my first taste of rugby at USAFA and was instantly hooked. Between USAFA and UM I took an internship in Cincinnati where I played the spring season with the Cincinnati Wolfhounds. As the stars aligned, the weekend I moving to AA the Wolfhounds clashed with Michigan Rugby. It was a bruising battle, but Michigan came out the victors with a controversial call in the final minutes (I thought I adroitly utilized my “one move“ to score, but the Sir thought otherwise). While initially soured, the Wolfhound team took the loss well as, few can resist the charms of AA. Some were so compelled that they ended up staying the night in AA where I found them the following morning crashed on the front porch of my new home on 4thStreet.
A key element to note is that at this time, the lines between the Michigan Rugby Club and the UMRFC were very blurred. I only had one class that summer, so I played 7’s with the Men’s team and went to every tournament, which gave me the opportunity to learn the finer points of rugby, from legends including Dave Perpich, Chris Collis, Marc Nemec, Devon Ferreira, Sam Elebrashi, Tom Clark, Mike Clark, Ryan Miller, Ed Spybrook, Scrat and many more! When the school year rolled around, it was expected that I would play more with the Michigan Club than UMRFC. Despite my love for the Michigan Club, in ’98 we clearly distinguished the undergrad team schedule from the Men’s team.
What position?
While ’98 was a key year in defining the lines between UMRFC and Michigan Rugby, I was admittedly a rugby “promiscuous player” (trying to keep it clean for the kids), so I played with both teams schedule permitting. When playing for UMRFC I played scrumhalf most of the time and while playing with Michigan Rugby, I played flanker.
Any special honors? (i.e. captain, chair positions, midwest finals etc)
The first night of practice on Elbel field we showed up and the lights were off. At the time UMRFC and Michigan Rugby practiced together and in an emergency vote, of sorts, I was voted club captain/president and tasked with repairing the clubs status with the University.
That said, I think my most prestigious honor was my first and only “professional” contract as a rugby player. UMRFC had returned from a very productive spring break tour of Florida, but the Michigan Rugby team was heading to Savannah, GA for the annual St. Pat’s tournament. Perpich convinced me I had to go as the team had an extra ticket for me to fly. We were entering the SEMIS team (South Eastern Michigan Selects), so to get out of a test, we actually formalized the most informal of “select sides” with an official letterhead that was sent to my professors (how Grand Rapids and Bay City qualify as South East MI, I will never understand). After receiving approval and arriving in Savannah, I was still fretting how I was going to pay for the weekend. Amidst the chaos, Perpich pulled me aside and said “by the way…you are on the clock all weekend!” This was my favorite tournament of all-time. Michigan Rugby was a spectacle to behold on and off the field. In the semi-final we played the Wolfhounds who cordially targeted me for every kickoff (I was playing winger). I have since used it as a coaching lesson as winger was my least favorite position to play, but that tournament was probably the best rugby I have ever played. It was the most fun I have had playing rugby in a 20 year span. We ended up losing to NYAC in the finals, but the crowd was cheering for the crazy team from MI that had been singing songs and closing down bars the night before in Savannah.
Favorite memories or teammates?
If there is an Alumnus of the Month that can declare a finite list, God bless them. I have already named many and would find it impossible to name them all without boring you to tears, but will try within the space provided (if only all of us had been as s):
- The Foundation: the roots of UMRFC go too deep to encompass in a brief write-up. Perps, Masso, Tuttle, Menyhart, Hacksaw, Stuhlberg, Fish, Wooley, Warpig, Clark(s), Webber, Hagen, Pratt, Ashby and of course Cowmeadow.
- The Transition: Carl Wahl, Corey Mather, Brian Francisco, Nick Kugler, Punisher, Scott Salamango, Ryan Lefevre, Jeff, Marlboro, Will Spurgeon, Randall Walker, Kevin Snowden and too many more to name…these were the core men that helped us establish an independent UMRFC team. We had more losses than wins, which was crushing at times, but we persevered.
- The Future: Mike Livanos, Andrew Marcus Mike Cavnar and others were the heart of what truly spearheaded the UMRFC club as it stands today!
With the incomplete laundry list of names out of the way…here are some of my favorite memories in an tease format (please consult with the identified parties for details):
- Carl Wahl – “If you’re going to do something, you better bring some friends and eat some sandwiches!” To which Brian responded “I’ll be his friend!”
- Carl Wahl – “I’m a Yooper, you’re a Yooper..”
- Brian Franciso – “Did you wear your sister’s shirt?”
- Waddie – “you’re a mean man…you busted his nose.”
- Perps [to Carl] – “You can take a $hit on your own time!”
- Mike Livanos – “The future, the future…”
- Mike Cavnar – “Just tell me what to do and I will do it!”
- Andrew Marcus – “I started playing rugby after breaking my leg in baseball…I thought it would be safer.”
- Livanos and Cavnar – saving them from an angry group of UM feminists.
- Running the stairs at the Big House and the Naked Mile in full Super Hero body paint.
- Seeing a graduate degree rocket scientist ram his head through a wooden fence at BOB Dewey.
What are you doing now?
Post UM, I lived in Chicago for seven years and worked at a startup while receiving my MBA from Kellogg/Northwestern. I attribute my grad school strategy to my time with UMRFC. As previously mentioned, I was a “promiscuous” rugby player. During my time with the club, I also moonlighted with the grad school team and realized that through rugby I could get a part-time MBA through a top-tier program like Kellogg, while getting the networking benefits of the full-time program by playing rugby.
My family and I recently relocated to Austin, TX. After spending seven years in institutional equities on the sell-side, I moved back into software and currently run the client sales and mid-market sales teams for a Treasury and Risk Management SaaS company. With the move, it has been nearly two years since my last rugby match, but I have not hung up my boots for the last time. I plan to play in future Alumni matches for both UMRFC and KRFC, as well as revisit favorite tournaments such as Savannah, Lakefront 7’s and Vegas 7’s (recruiting now for an Old Boys Savannah squad if interested).
For the current UMRFC players, I think it is critically important to think now about the immediate impact UMRFC will have on your life. I have a daughter that is seven and a son that is eight. Just the other night I was telling my son some lessons that I learned while playing with UMRFC. Some of my favorite lessons include:
1) You can’t control how good your opponent is or the calls the sir makes, but you can control how prepared you are (particularly fitness).
2) You never regret giving it your all…but you will regret any instance where you didn’t.
3) I never wanted to be the best player on a team (easy for me), I wanted to strive to be on the best team possible so I could learn from others.
4) You can never make an impact without being part of a community; years later hearing what an impact only a small effort has had on different players only makes me wish I was more involved with UMRFC.
I have traveled the world for work and rugby has helped open doors that my counterparts could never dream of touching. As current UMRFC players recruit new candidates, feel confident in telling them that rugby is a global fraternity that eclipses the largest group on campus. From networking with colleagues, clients and partners around the world, to walking a trading floor in Canada with an ear partially torn and a nice shiner…nothing compares to the ice breaker and social connection rugby has created for me personally and professionally.
Any other interesting stories or info that you can provide?
I cannot say enough about the impact Dave Perpich had on my life during my time at UM. From my first summer in Ann Arbor, to the last summer I left Dave was instrumental to my survival. Through construction jobs that Dave lined up for me, I probably had a higher average hourly wage than 90% of other UM students (including the “dancers”). While I would like to think that the “Yooper Crews” I coordinated helped Dave and his company, I know Dave was looking out for me and single handedly helped me from graduating with a pile of debt. Stuhlberg and Hagan helped with as well and I thank all of you. Time spent cruising to tournaments with Paros and Zeb, as well as the van trips down to FL are priceless memories I will never forget.
We hosted the MI Cup in the spring of ’99 on Belle Isle. During the planning we realized it would cost the club several thousand to pay for emergency medical services and severely eat into our profits. Always focused on maximizing margins, I looked at the requirements and talked my mom, a volunteer EMT in the U.P., into filling the post for the cost of a hotel and a few meals. I likely understated the size of the tournament, which left my mom and her friend running frantically from field-to-field throughout the weekend (I think there were nearly 80 teams across college, club and HS levels)! Luckily the Men’s team included a few med school students completing their residency, including Tobin and Aki, who helped between matches. In one incident, there was a female rugger screaming from the bottom of a ruck. As we cleared things out and gently moved her to the side, she cried out “where is my knee?!?”. To which my mom responded “I don’t know!” I believe it was Aki who calmly pointed out her dislocated knee cap and promptly set it back in the proper position.
There is not nearly enough time to tell all the stories that I would like to share…
