When did you play?
I played from fall of 2001 through spring 2005.
What positions did you play?
This is an easy one. In the fall of 2001, I played wing as I got to know the game. I was lucky enough to find a spot at fullback during our 2002 tour to Trinidad and Tobago and stayed in that position the rest of my time with the club. One of the greatest honors of my time with the club was when Scottie Salamango gifted me a mid-90s number 15 jersey upon our return from the Trinidad and Tobago tour. That is still one of my most prized positions. I would grab it after my wife and son if our house was on fire.
What got you started?
I knew Wes from high school. I also had taken a three-week backpacking trip in New Mexico the summer before my freshman year at Michigan. My guide had played 8-man at Dartmouth and convinced me of the glories of rugby. When I returned from the trip, I connected with Wes and joined up for the first practice of the fall. I was hooked after making my first open field tackle. Marcus and Livanos were instrumental in making me feel like part of the team that fall.
Any honors or awards?
I played one half for the Michigan Select Side in the spring of 2002, attending with Andrew Finn, Mike Livanos, Sultan Sharrief, Mike Cavnar, and Craig Williams. That year I was selected as Rookie of the Year for the club. I am most proud of our run at the D2 national championship in 2005. I’ll never forget the feeling of beating Bowling Green on their home turf that fall. I still remember watching their scoreboard click down to 00:00. I was honored to serve as treasurer and president of the club. I learned many life lessons from these posts, particularly planning and playing a lead role in the New Orleans and northern Florida tour of 2003 with Sultan.
I’m also very proud of an off-field achievement that took place sometime in 2002, I think. During a late night cram session, I gave up on studying and taught myself how to use the microfilm machine in the grad library (the only research I ever did in 4 years at Michigan). I dug up “the article” from the first edition of the Michigan Daily and printed it. This then led to our rallying cry “soiled meat and sand” and to Craig Williams memorizing and often reciting the entire article to a reverent group of ruggers and confused crowd of non-ruggers at 1115 Packard.
What are your favorite memories/teammates?
As with everyone who is featured here, there are too many to name. Teammates – It was the honor of my life to play alongside all the guys from 2001 – 2005. I am grateful for the tutelage of all the Olde Boys and Men’s Club members I interacted with. Many of my best memories are from time on and off the pitch with everyone who played, especially our sides from 2003 – 2005.
For my first two years, I was always chasing the dream of being able to walk over opponents like Andrew Marcus.
As fullback, I had the pleasure of watching many spectacular plays develop from the backfield. It was amazing to watch the likes of Keith Bowen, Nick Warack, Sultan, Finn, Matt Rosales, Wes Farrow , Nick Harris, and the rest of our pack walk over opponents. To observe the dominance of our 04-05 pack from the backfield was a thing of beauty – too many wheeled scrums to count that season. I loved my time in the back three (“Three is one”) with Peter Emiley and Evan Currie. As we developed a more nuanced understanding of the rules than our opponents, we surprised a few unsuspecting teams with quick throws. Again there are too many to name, so just want to say thank you to all I’ve called teammates.
My slight edge usually came in my knowledge of the rules – an edge I’d probably lose now with the caliber of play these days. A particularly crisp memory was calling for a mark against Michigan State when they had numbers bearing down and I was all alone. I got leveled but held onto the ball. The Michigan State players had no clue what was going on as the ref awarded the mark. The players started to direct their fury at me and like many times before and after, Mike Livanos came to my defense.
I’ve never had the ability to remember game content, but other more tangential memories have lodged in my brain. Meeting Bear from the Tobago team at the airport. Meeting up with our immigration officer and ref in the airport parking lot in Trinidad. Marcus getting interviewed for the news with a brush fire in the background. I remember Weihman trying to come onto the field in Chuck Taylors during a snow game in Marquette. I occasionally suggest that anyone driving south on I-75 stop at the first Waffle House in Kentucky. I remember the way Sultan would walk over opponents with Masso shouting, “Nobody dances like the Sultan.” I’m very sorry to my friend Scrumpy Jack Esquire for causing him an ankle injury in a game in late 2001. I enjoy remembering my rant about a notorious quick tap that was called back by the sir (Stulie?) during our first intersquad 7s tournament in 2004. I still feel strongly that that was a legal play and would have resulted in a try. And how could I forget Coach.
What have you done since Michigan Rugby?
Rugby-wise I played a 7s tournament for the Austin Huns thanks to Babyeater. It was the classic “I’m just going to go watch” and then ten minutes later I have an entire donated kit from 3 different players and Babyeater is telling everyone I can play flyhalf. After that I attended one Huns practice before blowing out my orbital in a revenge tackle in the try zone in Las Vegas on a Hill Street Hooligans tour in December 2005. That marked the end of my rugby career save for a few Olde Boys matches.
Non-rugby-wise I was a middle school teacher for 6 years, working in Austin, Honduras, and Brooklyn. I worked in school administration for a while. My best job was stay-at-home dad to my son who was born in 2015. I now work at Cornell University and live in Ithaca, New York with my family.
How has Michigan Rugby affected your life beyond rugby?
Michigan Rugby led to many of the lifelong connections and friendships I enjoy today and taught me a lot of real world life lessons. Through rugby friends, I’ve traveled to Mongolia, gotten a beautiful view of Seattle by boat, received late night calls from “the track,” been supported at my wedding, found solace in tough times, and enjoyed more laughs than I can count.
I’m grateful to the Michigan Rugby community. Soiled meat and sand!
