Volume 6, Issue 1 THE GAIN LINE · The try was converted from the touch-line, which seemed to give them confidence, ... Volume 6, Issue 1 THE GAIN LINE June 2007 murugby.com Old Boys

Miami University Men’s Rugby Football Club Alumni Association

A good showing of Old Boys was on hand for our annual reunion in Oxford last year (September 8-10, 2006), with alumni representation from the club’s earliest days to it’s most recent graduates (more pictures on page 2, and on our website murugby.com). Formal activities for the weekend started Saturday morning with the Annual General Meeting of the Miami University Men’s Rugby Club Alumni Association in the Shriver Center. President Mike Coco led those attending in dis-cussions concerning our organization and its ongoing efforts in fund raising, field acquisition, scholarships, and coaching support.

The annual Miami A-side match against the alumni started on an encouraging note, with the Old Boys winning multiple phases and steadily marching down the field. The young boys escaped this onslaught through a penalty, allowing them to gain momentum for a score in the corner after about 10 minutes. The try was converted from the touch-line, which seemed to give them confidence, leading to good, solid rugby from the youngsters throughout the first half. The Old Boys seemed to be feeling the effects of age and/or night-before celebrations, and were down 21-0 at halftime. We came out much stronger in the second half, shutting down the youngsters‘ attacks and scoring a couple of tries midway through the half. There were several notable efforts, but none exceeded a 50 yard run by Toby Edison, who was caught just short of the line. We continued to exert pressure throughout the rest of the match, bringing the score to 24-17, but ran out of time for a victory. Grudgingly, we had to admit that the youngsters deserved the win.

Following the first match, a contingent of Really Old Boys shuttled in and out of a second match with the Miami B-side. Although the fitness of the kids overwhelmed the over-the-hill gang, it was fun to see the crazy old codgers strut what remained of their stuff. Of particular note was the effort of Charlie Howard (’75), who played (with fire!) after having heart-bypass surgery earlier in the year. After the matches, a barbecue prepared by Bill and Nancy Griffes was enjoyed by all. Speeches, scholarships and awards were given, and old stories were told and embellished. 2006 Awards: Outstanding Young Boy Volunteer: Mike Douglin Best Old Boy Play: Charlie Howard Outstanding Alumni Volunteer: Dike Ajiri Best Young Boy Play: Tim Rivera-Myers Steven Smith Scarlet A Award: Mike Meier Tim Kehoe Award: John “Ho John” Plavan Doug Edward Memorial Award: Steve Gustin 2006 Scholarship Awards: Doug Edwards Memorial Scholarship, $500: Joe Micelli Lionel Young Memorial Scholarship, $500: Dan Lakis

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dike Ajiri Toby Edison

Sean Edwards Steve Fazekas Steve Gustin

Craig Scheiderer Steve Seilkop Brian Slutzky

Mark Wiet

EXECUTIVE BOARD

PRESIDENT Michael Coco

VICE PRESIDENT Mark Hirselj TREASURER

Brian Slutzky SECRETARY

Craig Scheiderer

COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN

HISTORIAN Steve Gustin

COMMUNICATIONS Steve Seilkop

AUDIT Steve Fazekas

Events Randy Mahlerwein

FIELD Steve Seilkop FUNDRAISING Jared Moore

SCHOLARSHIP Sean Edwards

Miami University Men’s Rugby Football Club Alumni Association

B E T H E R E ! O L D B O Y S W E E K E N D 2 0 07 — S E P T E M B E R 7 - 9 , 2 0 07

M I A M I R U G B Y ’ S 3 5 T H A N N U A L A L U M N I R E U N I O N

Volume 6 , Issue 1

June 2007

T H E G A I N L I N E

murugby.com

Old Boys Weekend 2006: By Steve Seilkop

2006 OLD BOYS WEEKEND ALUMNI

1968-1975 Front Row L-R: Steve Gustin, Pete VanDeCarr, Doug French, Ken Glassmeyer, Kevin Iler Back Row L-R: Sam Moser, Steve Honerlaw, Alan Weber, Ron Pruitt, Chris “Pie” Hines, Charlie Howard, Drew Einspanier, Drew’s son, Bill Griffes, Steve Seilkop Not pictured: Rick Sivik

1976-1985 Front Row L-R: Marty Trinkino, Pete VanDeCarr, Doug French, Chuck Kikta, Ken Glassmeyer, Kevin Iler, Mitch Mink

Back Row L-R: Kris Braunschweig, Tom Link, Pete Shoup, Greg Cohen, Randy Bartell back eyes closed, Marty Morrow front, Marty Brix, Nick “the Enchanted” McCardle, Paul "Hojon" Plvan, Richard Hastings, Brett Lance

1990-2000 Front Row L-R: Jeremy Huelsman, Brian Slutzky, Steve Fazekas, Paul Soltis, J.R. Hasset (’85), Bobby Deck Back Row L-R: Toby Edison, Todd Hague, Mark Wiet, Justin Cole, Dike Ajiri, Roger Craig, Dan Sala-mone, Eric Schwarz, Jared Moore, Craig Scheiderer, Mike Coco

2001-2006 Front Row L-R: Sean Edwards, Jon Gustin Back Row L-R: Eric VanWagoner, Stuart Donett, Ryan Rybka, Tom Campbell, Josh Goldsmith, Mike Zimmerman, Nicholas McCauley

Page 2 Volume 6 , Issue 1

Miami U. RFC Spring Season Summary

MU Men’s Rugby Club Alumni Association News

Annual General Meeting: For the sixth old boys running, MUM RFC AA will be holding it’s AGM in Oxford the morning of the Old Boys match. We will be meeting at The Shriver Center at 10 am. This year we will be electing both our VP and Secretary for new two-year terms. All members, supporters and alumni are invited to attend. A continental breakfast will be provided. Board of Directors Meeting: The Board of Directors, Committee Chairmen and the Officers of MUM RFC AA will be meeting on Friday, September 7th from 9 am to 5 pm at the Shriver Center. Topics to be covered will be the organizations Strategic Plan, a Capital Campaign and training for our volunteer board members and leaders. If you have an interest in serving on our board, please plan to attend. And if you’re in town, please stop by. For more info, contact Mike Coco at 614-325-1079 or [email protected]. Rugby House Property Acquisition: Tom Kelly, father of a recent Miami rugby graduate (also Tom), has generously donated the equity in a house that he owned in Oxford to our alumni association. For those of you who were in Oxford for the 2006 Old Boys Weekend, this is the house where many recent student ruggers have lived. We have assumed payments on the house, and are in the process of refurbishing it for fall rental. Our plan is to rent the house to Miami ruggers. For more information on this prop-erty, contact Ron Pruitt at 321-363-6605 or [email protected]. Field Committee: A substantial effort was made to establish a permanent location for club practices and matches this year. To achieve this, we made a proposal to the University to build a combination storage building/restroom facility at Ditmer field, which would have given rugby priority over other club sports that use the field. Our proposal was embraced enthusiastically by the Uni-versity Club Sports department, but we could not overcome University restrictions on building permanent structures at Ditmer, which was designated as a “natural area” when it was donated to the University. We are currently searching for property that we can purchase as a permanent playing grounds for the club, independent of the University. For more information, contact Steve Seilkop at 919-742-5233 or [email protected]. Coaching Committee: Over the past five years, we have been fortunate to have many volunteer coaches, most notably Kevin Kit-tredge and Tim Williams. Kevin stepped down last year to address professional and family responsibilities, and has left the area to take a position at another university. Tim, who had been assisting Kevin, has done an admirable job in taking over for the past yr. However, the job is not easy, and most successful college programs have more than one coaching volunteer and/or at least a part-time paid coach or coaches. The coaching committee has found several models from other programs that we might utilize, ranging from marginally compensated, passionate volunteers ($1,000—$3,000 per person per season, to a part-time coach ($20K per year, $400K to endow), to a full-time coach and staff. We are currently at the low end of the scale, relying on volunteers with some reimbursement for travel expenses ($1,000/season, plus coaching clinic fees and expenses) . Over the next year, the commit-tee will be attempting to find additional coaching support and resources (people and money) to help Tim and the club. If you can help personally, or if you know of qualified individuals in the Oxford/Cincinnati/Dayton area that might want to get involved, please contact Toby Edison at 617-633-5987 or [email protected]. 40th Anniversary Planning: Miami Rugby is quickly approaching it’s 40th anniversary, which will be celebrated Old Boys Weekend 2008. If you haven’t attended in a while, the year to come will be September 5-7, 2008. As part of our planning, we are seeking your assistance in identifying and contacting “missing alumni” who are not on our mailing list. Please bring to old boys this year a photocopy of any team pictures (with names you remember) or team phone lists, etc that you have. If you’re not able to attend this year, these items may be sent to Miami Rugby Historian, Steve Gustin at 890 Windsor Trail, Roswell, GA 30076 or [email protected]. His number is 770-993-4129.

1/12/ 07 Florida 24-25 L 3/24/07 S. Illinois 32-0 W 3/24/07 Indiana St. 44-0 W 3/31/07 Ohio U. 31-43 L 4/7/07 Cleveland Rovers 22-20 W 4/14/07 Wittenberg 14-0 W 4/21/07 Dayton 14-20 L 4/28/07 Bowling Green 15-29 L 4/28/07 John Carroll 39-0 W 4/28/07 Ohio U. (B) 36-5 W 4/29/07 Ohio State 0-32 L

Miami’s A-side posted a 6-5 record for the spring season, outscoring its opponents by 291-178 points. Two of the losses were closely contested matches with U. of Florida and Ohio University, both strong sides that Miami matched up against favorably, but couldn’t quite manage to put away for wins. A strong third place finish in the Ohio Classic Tournament ended the season on a fairly positive note. Although the club lost in the semi-final to powerhouse Ohio State, alumni observers indicated that the score was not indicative of an impressive Miami effort. Overall, coach Tim Williams was optimistic about the season, indicating that up until the last game the club not lost the first half of a game all season, leading him to look toward more conditioning in the upcoming season. He feels that “there is a good core group of players returning for fall and we should be strong. We need a little more size to get Bowling Green and Ohio U., but it can be done with what we have.”.

Congratulations to outgoing seniors: Wes Kelly, Mike Meier, and Joe Miceli. We’ll be looking for you at Old Boys 2007.

Page 3 Volume 6 , Issue

Miami are we, we'll fight to the end, no matter how injured, our goal we'll defend. To commit the embarrassing knock-on, to pass instead of to die, to kick the impossible drop goal, to score the impossible try!

CONTACT US

Membership: Contributions of $50 or more per year qualify you as a member of the MU Men’s RFC Alumni Asso-ciation. Mail them to Brian Slutsky, 1720 McLean Ct., Glenview, IL 60025

Gain Line News: If you have a story, picture, or other information that you’d like to contribute, contact Steve Seilkop, 3942 Rives Chapel Rd., Siler City, NC 27344 ([email protected])

Listserve: Get the latest news. Join our listserve at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/murugby/

Miami Univers i ty Men’s Rugby Footbal l Club Alumni Associat ion P.O. Box 1603 Traverse City , MI 49685 USA

To play the inevitable game, to take the improbable ruck, to win the impossible scrimmage, to hope we don't die in the muck. To toe the magnificent grubber, to spin the perfect dive pass, to boot the fantastic conversion, to party till we're all on our ass. This is our quest, to follow that ball, no matter how distant, we'll get to that maul.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DROP GOAL (to the tune of “The Impossible Dream”)

This is a classic Miami rugby song that you might want to learn in preparation for Old Boys Weekend 2007.