August Alumnus of the Month: Rod Sorenson

Rod Sorenson is our August Alumnus of the Month!

When did you play?

I played from the fall of 1980 through 1985, when I succumbed to increasing demands from family and workplace.

What position did you play?

Initially I played “follow someone else around the pitch until the final whistle”, then switched back and forth between No.8 and second row for a year before settling in at second row (where it was usually nice and warm—no, make that just warm) for the rest of my career.

What got you started?

During my junior high years in Columbus, Ohio I had a job on the OSU campus on Saturdays, and on the way I often stopped to watch part of a match on the polo fields there. I thought I would like to try the sport but moved to Ann Arbor before I dared take any action.

Years later I was quenching my thirst in Fraser’s one drizzly Thursday evening when a bunch of muddy, bloody guys came in and someone said, “The ruggers are here!” Ah, opportunity! Someone introduced me to Dave Weber who said, “Be at Elbel next Tuesday evening”. I dug up my Converse All Stars and showed up, much to his surprise (dismay?). As the scrum assembled I met Keith Stone, Billy Chung, Greg Rose, Tony Menyhart, Arnold Cowmeadow and their ilk as Brian Van Dusen explained the game to me in four basic principles and five intense minutes. I liked the challenge and stuck with it. My first match came on a HOT steamy football Saturday. As the crowd passed by on their way to the Big House I ran around like crazy, blocked a kick, lost about six pounds of sweat (really), replaced it afterwards, and got hooked.

What honors/awards did you receive?

During my short career I was fortunate to play for the Michigan Select Side several times, was invited to play second row for the Midwest Select Side, and enjoyed two great road trips as a Church Street Barbarian. I played both against and alongside the great Brian Vizard of ESPN and USA Rugby fame. The greatest award and honor was the privilege of becoming a member of the U of M band of rugby brothers and their legacy.

What are your favorite memories/teammates?

I remember so many matches, trips, practices, and nights with my teammates in Ann Arbor in such vivid detail (whether they happened or not) that I can’t pick any out as favorites, but some of them come to mind more quickly than others, among them the following.

The great 50-meter scrum at the Big 10 championships in Columbus (which we won). In the opening of the match our opponents kicked into touch. We opted for a scrum in mid field. Ian called “nosebleed” and we hoisted them up and drove them all the way to the goal line (no joke) before they could finally collapse the scrum about a meter out. Weber, at scrumhalf, said it was like steering a big rototiller down the field. The referee asked “Kick or mark?” and Pete immediately said, “Posts, sir”. Keith screamed, “YOU BONEHEAD!” and began to chase him and we had to subdue him and settle for a kick.

At the University of Victoria international tournament; the superb action on the pitch, on TV, in front of a paying audience, including the world’s most intense match against Cal Berkeley. Their scrumhalf was I believe a USA Eagle, and I took great pleasure in hearing his teammates repeatedly tell him “Don’t panic!”. Off-pitch was a bit intense also. I shared a room with Arnold and Bruce.

We were playing nationally prominent Milwaukee RFC and Dave Kieras and I stole a throw-in and took it in to score the winning try! But no—the ref called a knock-on. We protested that the circumstances were totally inconsistent with the call. The ref got flustered, and said “Wellll, I believe it was your intent to knock-forward” and that was that.

A harsh match against the Chicago Lions at Elbel. Before play started Tony said, “It’s extremely important that we win this match, because they represent all that is bad in rugby, and we stand for all that is good”. We cleanly defeated them. I couldn’t completely close my mouth afterward and found it difficult to keep my mouth closed well enough to drink.

Playing against the Sherwood Forest touring side from England, I got throttled by my opposite in a ruck when he grabbed my collar and twisted it tightly around my throat. Minutes later he ran a penalty at us and Dave Kieras and I met him HARD at 10 meters, picked him up, upended him and completed the pile-driver maneuver, after which he faded into obscurity. We beat the wee out of them.

Finally, I got a superb assist from Tony late in a match in Tecumseh (where we were showcasing the sport at a local festival), resulting in a try in good form. He apologized at once: “I’m sorry, I mistook you for Graham”. At the sports bar afterward, the recorded match was being shown on the big screens, and patrons and players were placing monetary bets on the outcome.

It would be impossible to list in the space here all of the guys I recognize as special friends and teammates; the list is a lengthy one and gives me great pleasure to review and occasionally renew. Those were certainly special days and extraordinary experiences.

What have you been doing since Michigan Rugby?

After my playing years, I returned to my job as a medicinal chemist in drug discovery for Parke-Davis Research until they were acquired and closed by Pfizer. I then joined the research faculty of the College of Pharmacy at U of M, ultimately retiring after 10 good years there, capping off 45 years of pharmaceutical research. When I began, there were no small computers or even calculators available, so I actually know how to use a slide rule! I’ve been married for 47 years (to the same lady), have two children and two grandchildren, and still live in the same home we moved into when we first came to Ann Arbor.

Congratulations to Rod as our Alumnus of the Month for August 2021!