August Alumnus of the Month: Kevin Ruf

When did you play?
1984 -1986 during my law school days. I’d played at Cal from ’80 – 84 as an undergrad and UM had been in the final four with Cal in 1982 for the national championship and the Cal guys really got along with the UM guys. That sense of coming to both a great law school and great rugby club was what made UM my clear choice.

Any special honors?
I was Captain in 1986. Blew out my knee in the Big 10 Championships against Northwestern. George Roeth, a former Cal teammate, through his body sideways as I was heading for a try (and not passing to Parros, he always reminded me). I knocked it forward and basically ended my career — torn ACL, medial meniscus, and medial collateral ligament.

Favorite memory or memories?
All my memories are great ones. The first time we played the vaunted Chicago Lions, right around the time they won or came close to winning a club national championship. It was a Thursday afternoon on a rainy, crappy day and we just smoked them. Crushed them. Destroyed them. I’m going to say 55 to 0 — literally something like that. We went on tour to BC and played in the semi-finals against University of Victoria. They had one of the greatest Canadian ruggers ever on their team — Mark Wyatt. Great fly half. I think he’s in their Hall of Fame. We made some weird adjustments to see if we could throw them off in the line-out — blame Dave Argyle, our captain — but they smoked us pretty bad. Some great road trips. Tuttle showing us around his hometown of Cleveland. “Dale Tuttle’s Cleveland After Hours” would have been an EXCELLENT reality show.

What are you doing now?
Practicing law mostly and raising our three kids. About five years ago, my wife and I decided to move up to Ojai (100 miles north of LA, near Santa Barbara) so the kids would not grow up in LA. We love it, but it’s taken me out of auditioning and the rest of my “Hollywood” pursuits. I was a main company member of the Groundlings (like Second City) before I left. My contemporaries were Maya Rudolph, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, etc. Now I have a tight five minute stand up set that our Australian Shepherds seem to really enjoy; and the chickens are a pretty good audience (if they have water).

Last comment.
Michigan Rugby will always be close to my heart. What I loved about our program was that it was truly “by the people, for the people.” We coached ourselves. We made our own decisions. And, just out of luck I guess, the program has always attracted really interesting people — “death or glory toads” as one of my teammates called us. Intellectuals, bums, poets, world-class ladies’ men — and many of them absolutely first class rugby players. Every time I’m back, I’m struck by how tight the club remains. Great club. Go Blue!