December Alumnus of the Month: Gavin Wilson

Congratulations to the December Alumnus of the Month, Gavin Wilson.

When did you play?
I played rugby in high school in Evanston, IL. I played at Michigan from 1981-1985.

What position did you play?
I played #8 and flanker.

Favorite memory of the club?
Probably my first memory. I knew I wanted to play in college but had limited knowledge of the Michigan Club. My first day on campus my freshman year, I saw a guy with a Michigan Rugby t shirt on and asked him how to join the club.  He gave me some general directions to Elbel Field and told me practice was Tuesday and Thursday nights. Two days later I walked from my dorm on the hill down to Elbel Field. The first guy I met was Greg Rose. He was getting out of his car and I asked him if I was in the right place. Greg was either a senior or already in Grad school and was the captain back then. He introduced me to everyone as they started showing up to practice. I pulled my high school jersey out of my bag to put it on for practice and Greg immediately recognized it since he played at  a rival high school. I was shocked that Thursday night when Dave Weber announced the teams for the Saturday game and I was starting on the B side vs Michigan State. I had to borrow a shirt, shorts and blue socks from various people who had just played the A side game before us. All three sides trounced the Spartans that Saturday. I had more trouble remembering my new teammates names than I had playing against State. The following Thursday after practice, I started my two mile walk back to my dorm when Greg, Ian Chapman and a few of the older guys asked my where I was going. I told them I was walking back to the dorm. Two minutes later I was in the back of a car headed to my first night at Fraser’s Pub. A memorable night for sure.

Special Honors?
We had some really good teams back then. Greg Rose, Ian Chapman, John Hartman, Dave Weber – all those guys were in their prime and were absolute beasts. We won the Big Ten tournament 3 out of the 4 years I played. My freshman year we played in the Collegiate North American World Cup in Victoria, Canada. I was the only freshman selected to play. (Pictured below, I’m in the back row second from the right.) The team played in the college final four my freshman year, but I had knee surgery two weeks before and missed the trip. We came in 2nd in the college Midwest tournament my sophomore and senior years. We had some great trips/tours to New York to play the NYC Athletic Club, the first Bahamas tour (even making the local Nassau paper, pictured above) and a tour of Washington, DC on St. Patrick’s weekend. I was the Club President, college side captain and selector during my four years. I also played a few times for Michigan Select and played for the Chicago Lions when I went home for summers. I had a second more serious knee surgery at the end of my senior year and didn’t play post college

What are you doing now?
I moved back to the Chicago Area after graduation and have been here ever since. Still married to Stella for 32 years now. I have a daughter, Kat 28, who got married last year and a son, Hunter 26. Both were also college athletes.  I was in the insurance business for 25 years and then got into commodity trading about 10 years ago. Now that things are slowing down, I’m hoping to get to an old boys weekend – I’ll leave the cleats at home though.