Congratulations to this month’s Alumni of the month, Richard Campbell!
When did you play?
I played at Michigan during my sophomore, junior, and senior years — from the fall of 1976 through 1979.
My older brother, Robert Campbell, played for a couple of years in the early 1970s. He was in NROTC and was running marathons, so he was fit and strong. Since I was his equal in height and weight, I think I fooled people into thinking I could equal his strength and stamina. Alas…camaraderie was my strongest qualification for the team. I went to graduate school at Syracuse and played briefly for the Orangemen. During the summer of 1979 we played a 7s tournament at Saranac Lake (upstate New York). I was put in as wing, and in what I’m sure was a spectacular example of what not to do in rugby, I dislocated my shoulder making an open-field tackle. And for the rest of the tournament weekend I learned what it feels like to camp in a tent on the pitch with a newly-dislocated shoulder.
When I moved to NYC in 1981 I played for a short time with the St. John’s Redmen (now the Red Storm). Every practice was followed by a visit to Poor Richard’s, a campus bar across the street from the field. And for me, the nights would end with a long ride on the F-train, from Queens to my apartment in Brooklyn. Later that year the university figured out that there weren’t any St. John’s students on the team and they closed us down…the end of my rugby career.
Now I play vicariously through my son, Nick, who is a sophomore on the team.
What position did you play?
Second row
What was your favorite memory as a member of the club?
Winning the Big10s
Did you receive any special honors as part of the club
No…I was never big enough, strong enough, or fast enough.
What are you doing now?
After graduate school I went to work for Pfizer in NYC. In 1987 I left Pfizer to work in healthcare advertising, taking a job at an independent agency that later became a part of the Havas network. In 1997 I started an agency with two partners within the McCann Worldgroup. McCann bought us out about three years ago. After sitting out our non-competes, my two partners and I started a new business in healthcare marketing — utilizing AI and crowdsourcing to direct the development of pharmaceutical advertising.
Any other interesting stories?
In the 70s we didn’t have access to University-sponsored transportation to away games. Instead, we used personal cars — with a team credit card for gas. I rode in the back seat of a VW Beetle to an away game vs Notre Dame. Although we lost the rugby game, we had a great time in South Bend watching the Michigan football team beat the Irish. On the way home we got lost near campus and pulled a U-turn directly in front of a police car. To add insult to injury, we went wide and got the front bumper tangled in a telephone support guy-wire. The policeman came over…but instead of giving us a ticket, he proceeded to push the wire off the bumper and directed us to go.
The first time my parents saw me play rugby I managed to take a boot in the face — breaking my nose and ultimately blackening both of my eyes. I give my parents credit that they never tried to convince me to stop playing, although I don’t think my mother ever came to watch another game.
I also remember playing a couple of games at a field in Detroit. Before the games all the players had to walk the field to remove rocks, cans, and bottles. And I seem to recall that we had to play around a manhole cover. Elbel, in comparison, was like playing in a palace.
Again Congratulation Richard Campbell February Alumni of the Month!
