Congratulations to our October Alumnus of the Month, Cal Bittner.
When did you play?
I played from fall of 1976 through fall of 1978. In the winter of 76, I had applied to the UM graduate school of mathematics and was awarded a full teaching fellowship which was a huge break in life for me. (So a shout out to all U-M ruggers; any of you study mathematics at Michigan? Let me know, if you did.) Mathematics brought me to Ann Arbor.
What positions did you play?
I started at wing and played outside and inside center at U-M. Over my 33 years of playing, I’ve played all the positions except front row in match play. My very last game was at U-M’s 50th reunion in 2009 when I played second row. Early in my career, I moved into the pack and played a lot of wing forward and number 8. For a long time, I played scrum half for our B-side team which was a lot of fun but you sure get beat up in a match.
What got you started?
I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester in New York, and that’s where I was first introduced to rugby by an English friend. I played for the Rochester Aardvarks city club who practiced just across the Genesee River from our campus. This English friend also introduced me to Renee who became my wife. What a great friend!
What are your favorite memories/teammates?
That first semester fall of ’76, I was teaching a freshman calculus class and a funny thing happened at one of first practices at Elbel Field. This young rugger, Mike Malenfant, comes up to me and tells me that I’m his calculus instructor. Mike was a great player and a good student too. Mike had two older brothers on the rugby team and they were outstanding players.
Art (aka Tom) Croft, a South African on the team, was and is a good friend and we still keep in touch. Greg Rose, Pete Malocci, Angelo Tocco, Harry McGee, and Tom Raboine were great teammates. Rory O’Connor was terrific at welcoming everyone and making us all feel included in a fun way. Dave Weber was a super coach and captain. Michigan Rugby benefited hugely from his vast knowledge and skill at the game.
I remember when Greg Rose broke his leg at a snowy practice under the lights in November of ’76 on an artificial turf field near Yost Arena. We were scrimmaging when someone on my team tackled Greg and as I jumped over both of them I heard snap/crack. I still vaguely remember the sound. It was a very bad break and I just thought that’d be the end of Greg and rugby. Boy was I wrong! Greg came back the next year with a vengeance fully recovered and in great physical shape having added 20-30 pounds of muscle. I’ve always had tremendous respect for Greg for doing that.
Other favorite memories? Well, in that very last game I played in 2009, I had the ball and was looking for support when I heard an old familiar voice say “Cal.” It was Tom Raboine and I cleanly passed the ball to him just before I was hit. Other memories, I remember playing Michigan State in East Lansing and also going down to play Notre Dame under the lights on an artificial turf field. We won all matches those 2 times.
What have you done since Michigan Rugby?
In July of 1979, I accepted a job at IBM Microelectronics in Burlington, Vermont. That fall I started playing for the Burlington Rugby Team and played with them through 2009. In 1995, before U-M won the national title, U-M met Burlington in the semi-final game and barely beat Burlington. I was not there but have heard many stories about the match from both U-M and Burlington teammates. At IBM, I was in a physics group and was responsible for mathematical software technology models that modeled the electrical effects inside a transistor. Those models are called by a circuit simulator that designers ultimately use to design chips. I spend 42 years with IBM and retired just before my 66th birthday in August 2021. Renee and I have 3 grown children and 10 grandchildren.
How has Michigan Rugby affected your life beyond rugby?
Rugby is the greatest game I’ve ever played. There is just so much more teamwork needed on the field for a team to be successful than when compared to other sports. Learning to dig down deep in a match when the game is on the line and then persevere to win the match with a bunch of great guys is a powerful lesson that spills over into many other aspects of life. And so it has in my life when I think of my family, my career, and how I approach a team oriented task.
