April Alumnus of the Month:James Wilber (Sauce)

This month’s Alumni of the Month is Sauce, Congrats!

When did you play?

I played from 2007 to 2011. My father drove me up to Ann Arbor before classes started and gave me great advice: get involved.

My original plan had been to walk on the football team as a long snapper, which didn’t work out for a number of reasons. After some welcome week festivities, I was talking on the phone with a friend with a former high school teammate. He was enrolled at Indiana and said he had found this new sport on campus. If Indiana had a Rugby team, Michigan surely would and I needed to go check it out.

I arrived to my first practice at Mitchell Field and wasn’t really sure I was in the right place. There was this skinny kid named Niall O’Kane that was showing off this dance move called the ‘Tut,’ after King Tut, on top of some portable bleachers. There was a pile of kit mixed up between the ultimate frisbee and rugby practices and a bunch of people were running around playing touch. I learned a few nicknames and Coach Dave Perpich paired me up with Max Mikulec for the entire practice.

That team was stacked with great men and terrific athletes. The club went on to win the Midwest Championship, a berth at Nationals, and a special place in the annals of Michigan Social Lore. I stuck with it and the rest is ancient history.

What position did you play?

Like anyone above six foot without natural speed, I started from the humble beginnings of the boiler room in the second row. Back in those days it was very difficult to find rugby online, but I watched as much RWC 2007 as I could: Sebastien Chabal, Henry Tuilagi, Schalk Burger, George Smith, Sergio Parisse, Jerry Collins, Simon Easterby, and Richie McCaw, along with the particularly inspirational performances of my teammates Andy Dougovito and Mike Przybylek. After my first year I transitioned to Number 8 and ultimately to flanker.

What was your favorite memory as a member of the club?

I’ll never forget the investment Tex, Max, and Perp made in me the winter of my Freshman year. The older guys all made it a point to learn the names of the kids in my class, and I think that investment of the established players in the midst of their run at Nationals played a huge role in bonding what would become my peer group on the team. That trip to Nationals in Albuquerque really framed my college experience and set me up to grow as a player and as a person during my next four years with the club.

The next fall we were playing in the Big Ten 15s tournament to kick off my Sophomore season. It was the first game I ever had to play without Charlie Bad in the starting 15, my first league match as Captain, and the first time I started at No. 8. We had lost all but four of the players from the Nationals squad and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Also, by some cruel twist of fate, we had to play Ohio State in a play-in match to the first round of the tournament the morning it started. They kicked off to us and we started the war of attrition in the breakdown. It was heated. Our first breather came on a Buckeye knock-on just inside their half. We saddled up for the first scrum, and when we put that bad boy in gear we drove right through them. Not the kind of drive like an unweighted sled or like their feet gave out from under them, but the kind of drive when you know the other team is pushing their guts out and you beat them anyway. At that exact moment the Forwards knew that we had the match in hand. It was the first time I had been a part of the ‘team consciousness’ that we preached at practice, and a beautiful day of rugby that I will never forget.

Did you receive any special honors as part of the club

The greatest honor I’ve received was the vote of my peers for the roles of Assistant Captain and Captain, and I thank Charles Berklich and all of my coaches for everything that they did to help me succeed in those roles. Playing for the Michigan Select Side with friends from all over the State was definitely another highlight.

I’d like to thank those who came before me for every selfless thing they did to position the club for success on and off the pitch. For all the times they paid it forward and all the little things they probably thought no one noticed: I noticed. We all owe a debt of gratitude to those men for prioritizing values over victory, something to celebrate as we approach the 60th Anniversary of the Club.

What are you doing now?

Since graduation I have served as an employee of USA Rugby. My current role calls for the planning and execution of all college and club playoff events, and I assist with international event operations from time to time. Professionally, I’m interested in new fan engagement strategies aimed at enhancing USA Rugby events and closely monitoring developments in the realm of performance data analysis and XR integrations/activations.

Personally, I am working with a great group of alumni on the Michigan Rugby Foundation. Along with traveling to Cartagena, Columbia this year for tour with the young boys and a perfect attendance record at OBW, I try to stay connected with the club from afar in Denver.

Any other interesting stories?

If I could give three pieces of advice to the college side, they would be go to practice, go to Old Boys Weekend, and go on tour. I remember eating on Tobi Eboda’s meal plan to survive while holding a work study job, picking up shifts as a doorman at the bar, and donating blood plasma to pay for school and rugby. I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

I love driving by the Arb and past the helipad stairs near the hospital where we held so many sessions during preseason camp. I’d pay top dollar to sit down with the boys and feed on some chicken broccoli bake at South Quad. I can still hear Perp asking us to play for each other, to train for each other, and the sound of the hot tub on Mary Court that you could hear driving back up State Street from an away match. I miss 5 o’clock touch in the summer, preseason training in the UP, and miss playing every day all year round. I miss Matt Trenary, miss Perp, miss the boys, their bands/rap collectives and their pranks. I remember Masso spit roasting an entire deer shank to send us off at 4AM in the School Bus for the Southern Prowl tour. The Astronomical Clock and the Slovenian National Team in Prague. Jeff Hagan smoking me in touch. Civil War matches. Downloading matches from the internet overnight (that’s how long it took, and that’s the only way we could watch rugby).

Michigan Rugby provided me with a lifetime of memories, and too many to reference here. I’ll settle for a great quote from Bill Haldane, with the hopes I see you all at Old Boys if not before: ‘How fortunate I am to have had such friends and memories. Thank you, Michigan – you’ve been a great flag-bearer for friendship and rugby. Go Blue’