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From 1994 to 2008 by Shawn McKinney:

In the fall of '94 I moved to St. Elmo, IL, from Long Beach, CA.  To keep myself from going crazy in the small town of St.

Elmo, IL, I started looking for a Rugby Club to hang out with, play for, and/or coach.  The closest Men's Club was in the St.

Louis, MO, area, which is over 80 miles from my place in St. Elmo.  I kept looking, and found out that Eastern Illinois

University had a Men's Club.  I called the University and asked for a contact . . . they gave me Tom Kraus' number and when

we talked he told me they didn't have a non-playing adult coach, and so, I went up there, 57 miles from my house, one

Thursday afternoon and talked with all the guys that were at practice, and they were willing to have me coach them.  That

fall, the fall of '94, the Club only won two matches in the Illinois Rugby Union League.  One of those matches was against the

University of Illinois, which I found out was the Club's main rival.  With that win they guys considered the fall a success even

though the Club only won half of their matches.  The next fall was about the same, with the guys beating the U. of I. again,

but only winning half of their matches.  The next year, in the fall of '96, the guys got into the Midwest Collegiate playoff after

going undefeated, and ended up losing the first match against the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and then coming back

to beat the University of Tennessee the next day to end up in something like 6th place in the Midwest, and that was before

the Midwest started a Collegiate Division II program. 

The Club continued its success by making it to the Midwest Collegiate playoff until the fall of '04 . . . then got back in the

playoff picture in '05 . . . the Club hasn't make it back since then.

The Club has had three undefeated fall seasons since the fall of '94, i.e., '96, '97, and '98, before entering the Midwest

Collegiate playoff.  It has won the Illinois Rugby Union League Championship 7 years since then, i.e., '96, '97, '98, '99, '00,

'03, and '05.  It was the Midwest Collegiate Men's Division II Champion in the fall of '99, the first year the Illinois Rugby

Union had a Collegiate Division II and the second year the Midwest had that program.  The Club went to the USA Rugby

National Championship in the spring of 2000 where it came in 7th place.  The Club came in 2nd place in the Illinois Rugby

Union in '01 and '06, and 3rd place in '02, '04, '07, and '08.

When I first got to the Midwest and EIU, the Club had been on probation for 10 years with the University . . . having an adult

as their coach got the Club off of probation right away . . . that was more than weird.  It had lost its right to use the

University mascot, the Panthers, and thus took on the 'B' side mascot, the 'Hornets', at some point before I arrived.  It also

changed its colors from the EIU colors to forest green and navy blue in the fall of '97.  Most of this paragraph's information

came from one of the former Hornets Presidents, Brian Rowan.

The Club also won the SIU 'All Fools Classic' in the spring of 2000, and the Championship Trophy, the 'Horns', is with one of

the EIU alumnus . . . I think Brian Rowan may have them . . . the Club still hasn't been able to get the University to give it a

place on campus to put trophies and other memorabilia in regards to the 'Gentlemen' of the EIU Rugby Club.

Another major Rugby Tournament the guys won, during the years from '94 on, was the St. Louis Royals Tournament in the

fall of '98 in which they played nothing but Men's Clubs.  They beat the host Club on Sunday of that Tournament, and it did

springboard the Club to an undefeated fall until they got to the Midwest playoff where they beat Iowa State University in the

first match, and then got beat by Ohio State University . . . OSU was very powerful in those days, and had a few All

Americans too.

If you have anything to add, or make corrections to the history of Rugby at EIU please don't hesitate to contact me at

TRNews@frontiernet.net, and if you have pictures to send me please send those to me at MTRNews@gmail.com.

I'm hoping some of you will fill in the blanks between the early '80s, and '94 . . . missing at least ten years of Rugby at EIU.

Hope all of that, and what's below brings back fond memories . . . enjoy . . .

- Shawn McKinney

The Early Years by Chuck Squires:

In the Summer of '75 a 19 year old Kankakee lad, Mike Gindy, returned from his freshman year at Western Illinois with a

glowing report of learning to play the best game ever, Rugby.  The word went out that summer in Kankakee and a summer

team was formed in Kankakee.  Four of those who bought in were Doug Moyer, Jay Mackin, Tom Raguse and Chuck Squires. 

All 4 were current students at EIU.

That fall at EIU, after much discussion and many meetings, followed by a recruitment drive which netted about 35+

members, practice started.  It was too late in the semester to play any games and we were still way too raw.  Practice

Monday and Thursday the following Spring semester gave us a foundation to begin play.

We went to Bob's Package Liquor for sponsorship.  Bob provided cheap kegs and Stroh's tee shirts to us.  We used the tee

shirts as our 1st uniform.  They may have lasted 2 games before they were all decimated.

Like Kevin, the OX said, we played Springfield, U of I B-side, and I think Peoria at home followed by a mind blowing road trip

to Carbondale. 

We actually had to buy spray paint cans to line the field for the first game, no string and no assistance.  I think Doug Moyer

and I did it in an hour and it looked like it, crooked lines were the norm.

As far as I can remember the starting 15 were:

Props: Bobo Davisson and 'Mr. C', Brian Cardosi;  Hooker: Fred Capriotti;  Locks: Kevin Hunt and Brian Johnson; 

Flankers: Mark Springman and Vic Bobb; 8 Man: Bill Winberg;  Scrumhalf: Chuck Squires;  Flyhalf: Doug Moyer; 

Centers: Jay Mackin and Don Baker?;  Wings: Gig Flynn and ??;  Fullback: Mike Hummert

We went 1 and 3 the first year, beating Springfield, probably in part to some questionable refereeing by Chuck Squires. 

Heck, I had only played 6-7 games but was one of the more experienced players and we were on the hook for a ref.

In fall of '76 we finished 2nd in the Illinois Intercollegiate, losing to U of I 24 to 8.  They ended 4th in the nation that year.  I

think it spring boarded the team to some good heights.  I stayed until the fall of '79 when we went 13 wins to only 1 loss,

again losing to U of I in the Intercollegiate, 16 to 0.  They finished 3rd in the nation that year.  I know in the Spring of 1980

the Club was invited to the Midwest Territorial in Dayton.

Some of the other highlights in the early years was the formation of the 4 Corners Tournament.  We brought NIU, WIU and

SIU into Charleston for a Spring Tournament for about 3-4 years in a row while I was there.  We formed the Tournament

because ISU and U of I always snubbed the other State Universities.

Vic Bobb was an English Professor who played and the closest thing we had to a mentor.  The thing was he was a bigger

deviant than 95% of the players.  He lent some experience and coaching ability to our Club though.

The only tour we ever pulled off, although it was a great one was a 1978 Spring Break trip to Arizona where we played

Arizona State, U of A and the Tucson Magpies.  We played ASU in Sun Devil Stadium under the lights on a night to remember,

probably not fit for print.  The game however was ultra competitive until the ref decided to make sure his team didn't lose to

a bunch of Midwesterners.  By the time we played the last game the entire traveling Club was pretty burned out.

- Chuck Squires