The Founding of Iowa Rugby

“Rugby footballl made its modern debut in the Midwest in the spring of 1963 . After a thirty

year absence of the sport, recurring rumors of rugby’s rebirth were verified when an

inexperienced Notre Dame squad traveled to Madison, Wi. for a match with an even more

inexperienced University of Wisconsin team. That isolated sporting event was won by Notre

Dame when a Wisconsin player missed three penalty kicks in the course of the game. That

player , Jim Bakken, later won the NFL professional football scoring title with his kicking

abilities. In any event, the inauspicious die of Midwest Rugby was cast. On January 11th,

1964 Ken Featherstone and Bob Meir of Notre Dame, Vic Hilarove and Michael Frost of

Wisconsin, and Bill Walker of Chicago met at the Ambassador Hotel in Chicago to draw up the

framework and objectives of the Midwest Rugby Union.

Three weeks later, on February 1, 1964, the “Midwestern Rugby Football Union” was founded

at a meeting held in the Beau Nash Room of Chicago’s Ambassador Hotel. The founding

members were clubs from the Universities of Chicago, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,

Notre Dame, and Wisconsin; Palmer College of Chiropractic, and the Missouri Rugby Football

Union.” (“A History of the Midwest Ruby Football Union” by D. Franklin Coffman, Jr. 1987 Midwest

Rugby Union Handbook. Col D’var Graphics, Milwaukee, WI.)

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In late 1965 Charlie Brooke, a native of Davenport, Iowa, placed an ad in the Daily Iowan, the

University of Iowa student newspaper, to announce a meeting with the intention of forming a

rugby club at the University of Iowa. Brooke had been an all-state football player at Davenport

Central prior to going to the University of Wisconsin where he played football and later rugby.

Upon graduation he attended the University of Iowa Law school, graduating with distinction in

1968. In November, 1965, Brooke told the Daily Iowan “I didn’t really enjoy football at

Wisconsin, it was a lot of drudgery and most of the squad didn’t get to play. If someone likes

to knock around, they’ll enjoy rugby”. His goal was to join the Midwest Rugby Union which at

that time was about 15 teams. “The social aspect of rugby is at least half the attraction,” said

Brooke. “The home team usually throws a party after a meet and provides a meal and dates

for the visitors”.

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Peter Francis, a graduate student in physical education, was one of the first to contact Brooke.

“I called him and told him I thought that the physical education department would probably

consider offering a course in rugby, which might encourage undergraduate students to take up

the game. The suggestion was supported by the PE department, and I was appointed to teach

the course”. Francis had rugby experience, having been born in the northeast of England and

playing while an undergraduate at King’s College Newcastle in the University of Durham, and

as a post-graduate at Carnegie College in Leeds.

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In January 1966 the Midwest Rugby Football Union held its winter meeting in Chicago, where

Iowa became the 14th member of the 2 year old league. At that time Dr. Leon Smith, an

Australian who was Director of Motor Performance Research Laboratory in the University’s

physical education department assumed head-coaching duties. He had played on rugby

teams in Australia, Canada and the United States, including a stalwart University of California

team. He had also coached at the University of Western Australia and UC Riverside.

On February 14, 1966 the Iowa Rugby Club held its first practice in the Field House at 6 pm.

The club was made up of a small nucleus of international students from rugby countries

including England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand. The rest of the club was filled

out with Americans who had little if any experience playing rugby. A 10 meet schedule had

been planned at that time.

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The newly formed rugby club was looking for any available support for the team. At that time

the legendary Forrest Evashevski was Iowa’s athletic director. “Evy” was head football coach

at Iowa from 1952 to 1960, with a career record of 68-35-6. His 1958 team won the Big Ten

conference title with an 8-1-1 record and went on to beat the University of California Golden

Bears in the Rose Bowl. After the bowl season was completed The Football Writers

Association of America named that Hawkeye team the national champions. Evashevski was

inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2000. Peter Francis recalls he

“was an enthusiastic supporter of our efforts, and supplied the team with older football

uniforms for our first couple of seasons of competitions.The first official rugby game played by

the University of Iowa Rugby Club was on Saturday,

April 23, 1966, when the “Eagle Hawks” as they were known in those days, hosted Quad Cities

Rugby Club and Palmer College of Chiropractic. Quad Cities brought 2 sides, and the first

game of the day was between the Quad Cities “A” team and Palmer. The University had

provided the use of intramural fields next to the Iowa Stadium, later renamed for Nile Kinnick,

the 1939 Heisman trophy winner. The weather was gray and rainy with a high of 60° as the

game kicked off. Palmer handled Quad Cities 13-6 on a muddy field. At 3 p.m. the “Eagle

Hawks” took the field against the Quad Cities “B” side. By now the field had been torn up, but

this didn’t slow the Iowa side. They easily handled the visitors from Quad Cities 19-0, scoring

5 tries and 2 conversions and shutting out the B-siders. High scorer was Pete Francis with 1

try and 2 conversions. Terry Noonan added 2 tries and Denny Kaiser, junior from Iowa City

and Kent Grieshaber, sophomore from Bettendorf, each had one. Coach Smith said “Everyone

played well and did their jobs. This is what won the game.” He praised the play of wingers

Terry Noonan and Kent Grieshaber, forward and captain Charlie Brooke and halfback Pete

Francis.

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On April 30, 1996 the Iowa Rugby team traveled to face The Chicago Lions rugby club, which

had been formed in 1964. The Lions are perennial contenders for Midwest Championships and

have had many international and professional rugby players don the Black jersey with lion

crest. But in the early days of the Midwest Rugby Union there was more parity. The Hawks

were unintimidated, and traveled well. Pete Francis added another try and conversion to his

season total, with Kent Grieshaber and Denny Kaiser adding a try each. Again the Hawks were

stalwart on defense, scoring their second shutout in defeating the Lions 11-0. The following

week would be another challenge with the team traveling to Davenport to face Palmer College.

Palmer has been competing in rugby since 1960 when the team was founded by Dr. David D.

Palmer, grandson of the founder of Palmer College. They boasted many collegiate

championships between 1960 and 1980. The 1966 team was also formidable, coming into the

weekend as the top-ranked team in the Midwest. The game got off to a rocky start for the

Hawks, with Palmer going ahead early on an unconverted try. But Pete Francis responded

later in the first half with a try which was followed by a second score from Jim Middleton,

freshman from Libertyville, Il. The Hawkeyes were able to build a comfortable halftime score of

13-3 and were never threatened in the second half, finishing off the men in purple 16-8 and

remaining unbeaten in their maiden season. Coach Leon Smith had special praise for the

forwards, singling out Charlie Brooke, Mel Paisley, a sophomore from Independence, and Jim

Middleton for their outstanding play. “The progress of this team has been remarkable

considering that most of these boys have never played before this year.”

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The final weekend of the spring season of 1966 saw the Hawks in action facing Quad Cities

again. The home game was played on the field west of the football practice field. Iowa again

was stingy on defense, pitching another shutout while putting up the highest point total against

any foe in the spring. Pete Francis once again got the scoring started with an early penalty

kick which was quickly followed by a brace of tries and a conversion to take the team to

halftime with an 11-0 lead. The team added four tries from long breakaways, with 2

conversions to bring the final score to 27-0. The final box score showed Mike Driskell with 2

tries, and single tries by Pete Francis, Kent Grieshaber, Mel Paisley and Dennis Kaiser. Francis

also pegged 3 conversions and the penalty kick which in 1966 was worth 3 points. Iowa

closed out its inaugural season with a 4-0 record, and had faced some of the best teams in the

Midwest while doing so. The club was looking forward to the Fall season with plans to add

several big 10 teams to the schedule.

-Brian Edeker

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