Iowa Rugby Foundation hosts Inaugural Hall of Fame Reception
The Iowa Rugby Foundation kicked off the “Stella is Calling You Home 60th Anniversary Celebration” last Friday with a Hall of Fame reception at the Iowa Memorial Union. This event celebrated the inaugural class of HOFers with an evening of reminiscences, rekindling and reunions. The event was kicked off by John Ramirez, IRF secretary, who eloquently served as master of ceremonies, who introduced the evening’s speakers. Our guest speaker was Dan Fletcher, a Cedar Rapids native who played football at Tennessee and Iowa State before playing rugby at Iowa State and Cedar Rapids Rugby who reminded us we all have a story about the person that introduced us to rugby, and the importance of the phrase “with you”.
The first inductee introduced was Peter Francis, who was one of the founding fathers of the rugby club in 1966. Peter was unable to travel from his home in San Diego so was live-streamed into the room. Next was Ian Cullis from the 1970’s era, followed by his teammate Kevin Froelich, represented by his widow Jackie. Jim Lloyd, Iowa Rugby player and longtime coach was roasted by teammates Chuck Furness and Bob Muller from the 1980’s. Current head coach and executive director of the Iowa Rugby Foundation Tyler Dailey was then introduced and gave a stirring speech. Our only USA Eagle inductee this year, Brent Hinz, was next up, ably introduced by his longtime teammate at Iowa and Scioto Valley, Ben Herrington. Our final inductee, John David Ryberg of Major League Rugby fame was the final inductee of the evening.
The speeches were often humorous, sometimes serious, and frequently very emotional. The audience was boisterous, with plenty of good-natured heckling, and probably exceeded the Fire Marshall’s maximum occupancy number. All six decades of Iowa rugby were represented including a large number of current players. The evening ended with many pictures of the inaugural class in their gold hall of fame jackets.
