Akron's Storied Past
Men's History
Credit for founding the Akron Rugby Football Club must be given to two transplanted rugby players, Bob Binns and Joe Stollar. Binns was formerly a Fort Wayne, Indiana rugby player and Stollar learned to play rugby at the University of Notre Dame. A meeting to establish the club took place in late 1970 and it was determined a side would be formed to play a spring schedule in 1971. Little did those two pioneers realize that eight years later, their efforts would lead to a Midwest Rugby Championship and a birth in the Final Four at the first United States Rugby National Club Finals.
The beginning of the road to this lofty peak started on April 10, 1971 when Akron, playing then as the University of Akron Rugby Football Club, took to the pitch for it first match against Kent State University. Kent taught Akron the fundamentals of the game as it administered a 21-3 lesson on how the sport was played.
Akron won its next 2 matches against Fort Wayne and Hiram College to complete its first season with a winning record. The following 2 seasons, the club expanded its' fall and spring schedule to a full compliment of games. Beginning in spring of 1973, the club began it winning tradition that lasted for more than 20 years.
In the spring of 1974, Akron entered its first tournament, the junior division of the Mid-America Cup. This tournament determined the best senior rugby club in the Midwest each year until the National Club Championship was created in 1979. Akron finished 2nd to Fort Wayne. The following year, Akron returned to the tournament and won the junior division defeating Notre Dame University in the finals 21-0. The Midwest Rugby Football Union, one of the four regional unions in the United States took notice.
In 1975, Akron ventured eastward to play in the Penn State Invitational Tournament. Akron lost to Scenectady, a New York State senior side, in a very close match. While Akron had been mostly scheduling college and junior sides, it was during 1975 that the team was elevated to a senior side and had to break ties with the University of Akron.
Beginning with 1976, the Akron Rugby Football Club began their ascent to the top of the Midwest Rugby Union. Akron was clearly a surprise winner of the Ohio Sevens Rugby tournament beating the perennial champions Sciotto Valley in the finals. (In 1977, Akron repeated as champions and would lose in close finals matches of the tournament in 1978 and 1979.) Later in 1976, Akron finished in the Final Four of the Mid-American Cup Senior Division. There was no doubt that Akron had risen to become one of the top Midwest Union Clubs. The rise occurred faster than any previous Midwest rugby club.
The following year, 1977, found Akron winning the Great Lakes Rugby Tournament in Detroit, beating the Chicago Lions in the finals. The Lions had dominated the Midwest union for 10 years, and Akron would go on to be a thorn in their sides for the next 15 years. Akron continued to expand their horizons by traveling to bigger and better national tournaments. The results included a win at the well-attended Washington DC Sevens Tournament in 1977.
By 1978, Midwest clubs had become very aware of Akron's wide-open style of play and their winning ways. During the year, a semi final finish in the Ohio Fifteens Tournament and Mid-America Cup were achieved. In the fall of 1978, the club made the first of three European trips to try and expand its knowledge of the sport. The trip was a success, winning three of the four matches and receiving coaching from several locations. Two matches were played in England, one in Scotland and one in Wales. All opponents were British junior division clubs. The only loss was 3-0 to the Old Haberdashers, a London based club located in the area called Hendon Station. During the tour, the players had a chance to visit Twickenham, Cardiff Arms Park, and Murray Field. The chance to tour those hollowed pitches were clearly the highlight of the trip. Akron players also learned to drink ale by the yard, a feat quickly mastered and used to continue their dominance of post game parties for many years to come.
Akron began 1979 by winning the Midwest Invitational Rugby Tournament. The tournament format had been reduced to inviting the 16 best senior rugby clubs in the Midwest Rugby Union and providing the winner with a birth in the US National Rugby Club Championship Tournament. Akron defeated Amoco, Detroit and Minneapolis to advance to the finals against the Chicago Lions. The Lions were the heavy favorite and were so confident of their victory in the finals that they purchased their plane tickets for the US Tournament in Kansas City before the day started. However, Akron came from behind to tie the game in regulation. In sudden death overtime, Akron cleared the ball from a line out inside their half of the field and advanced it for a try using seven-a-side rugby passing tactics to beat the stunned Lions. The 2,000 fans watching the match were shocked, but not nearly as shocked as the Midwest Rugby Union Administration.
The U.S Club Championships featured the St. Louis Falcons, New York Old Blue and the eventual winner, San Francisco Old Blue. Akron scored more tries than St. Louis in the first half, but lost to the strength of their kicker who went 5 for 5 in penalty kicks. The next day, the consolation match was lost 22-9, due to a generous substitution and an over zealous performance at the post game rugby party. Akron finished fourth in the nation after only being in existence for 9 years.
In 1980, the club continued winning nearly all the matches played. That year, Akron lost in the Midwest finals to Evansville All Whites, a team that featured a number of international senior side players at key positions. Akron also entered and won the Bowling Green Sevens Tournament.
During the spring of 1981, Akron traveled to Europe to play teams in Belgium, Netherlands, France and Ireland. Akron handily defeated Belgium and Luxembourg clubs, winning by large margins. But upon arriving in Colmar, France the clubs fortune changed. The match was very close at half, but free substitutions by the French produced quick scores early in the second half giving them a 3 try margin of victory. The final 2 matches were against an Irish first division club and a select side of several South Dublin Clubs. Both teams won handily, leaving the Akron first side 2-3 for the tour. Akron did manage a perfect 5-0 at the post game parties.
Akron completed its trophy case by winning the Ohio Fifteens Championship in 1982. Some of the club's charter members began retiring about this time, but a call for one more concerted effort to win a championship brought everyone back to the tournament. A strong side beat Cincinnati in a close finals match. It wasn't until 1987 when the next wave of talent would mature and Akron would resume its dominant style of rugby.
In the fall of 1986, Akron made its 3rd European tour, traveling to England and Wales. It was not a representative side because many of the players were unable to attend because of work commitments. The first match was against Dunstable, and English junior division club. The match was very close with Dunstable winning in the final moments. The second match was against Bedford, an English first division club. Akron would suffer one of its worst defeats losing 56-3. The next match was against Cirencester, which again was a close loss in the final moments. Then it was off to Wales and Port Talbot, where 2 more close matches produced 2 losses, leaving Akron 0-5 for the tour.
Starting in 1987, Akron began playing very good seven-a-side rugby. That year, the club finished 2nd in the Ohio Sevens Rugby tournament and won the Midwest Eastern Sevens Rugby Championship. The Midwest win gave Akron a berth in the US National Sevens Rugby Tournament where they finished 8th in the nation.
Akron won the Ohio Sevens Rugby tournament in 1988 and later that summer, won the Midwest Eastern Sevens Rugby Championship. In the US National Sevens Tournament, Akron placed fifth in the nation. Akron repeated as Ohio Sevens Champions and Midwest Eastern Champions in 1989. They finished 8th in the nation at the 1989 US National Sevens Tournament.
In the spring of 1996, Akron received a Midwest Playoff birth to play Dayton in the junior men's side competition. Coming up short, the Akron players showed poise and determination in their loss to the Dayton RFC. Starting in the 1997 season, the US Rugby Association divided teams into 3 divisions, Division I, II, and III. Akron was grouped into the Division III classification.
In the fall of 1998, Akron won the Ohio Union Division III title and was slated as the #1 Ohio Union team for the Midwest playoff in the spring of 1999. In the first round, Akron was matched against a Flint, Michigan side that did not have enough players making the trip and although they won the match, they had to forfeit the chance to advance. Given a second chance against the Eastern Suburbs of Cleveland, Akron fell short of the quest once again.
After a very successful Fall 1999 season, Akron once again found itself with a Midwest playoff birth. Traveling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Akron found itself coming up short of the second round in Chicago losing to Iowa City 10-5.
The beginning of the undefeated season of the Fall of 2001 was ironically a loss in a summer 10's tournament. A raggedy group of 30 something Kent State Rugby old boys would be gathered to enter the Akron "Dead 10's". The lads, led by retired fullback Kirk Kapusta and boasting such names as Brian Belinger, Mickey Erdos, Tom Bour and Brad Baker would join other Kent Alumni Dan Leslie, Craig Seals and Rob Sveda and be convinced by a thorough trouncing of Erie, Akron, Canton and the local All Stars that a run on out of retirement was begun. Adding to the 11 new "Old" players to join a dedicated core of tough Akron fighters were Doc Manuel and Jamie Keeney, expatriates from the distant northern wastes of Erie, PA. The 2001 team would roll through the Allegheny union, trouncing Erie, Greensburg, Canton, Steel Valley, Mon River and Westmoreland by huge margins. The team had such depth that each game would see the three headed scrumhalf monster of Baker, Belinger and Muse and the fresh subs at wing forward that fresh legs ran wild all fall. Scoring leader Kapusta would be the main benificary of such strong third row play as well as hard running Hoskinson, Karlovik, Farwell and Rett in the pack and Rosetta, Chet and MacMullin in the backs, capitializing on no fewer than 13 tries. The Akron Men would travel to South Pitt for the season finale and would win the game 20 - 9 despite a terrible injury to prop Keeney early in the match. The season would go down as Akron’s first (and only) unbeaten season in its history. The hard work would earn Akron the right to host the first round of the Midwest playoffs at is home pitch.
Women's History
The Akron Women's Side was spawned into existence in the fall of 2001 with 13 players. Older, wiser and 2 broken legs later the ladies found a hand full of moral victories in closing out the year of 2002.
The spring of 2003 started with a small group of the founding four mothers and a few girls that kept coming back. This core started to establish themselves not only as the team leaders but as the team characters. The ladies also began looking at the future by coaching a high school girls teams. And so with memorable games (and camping trips) at Kenyon College and Rochester NY, the ladies set their sights on the summer tournaments. Making promising appearances at the Teapot Dome Scandal Tournament in Clarion OH and at Canton's Annual Ruggerfest. The ladies ended their "rock star" summer at the Tackle Cancer 10's tournament in Pittsburgh PA. In the fall of 2003 the Akron Women's Rugby Team took a small hiatus or power nap.
The team banned together in the spring of 2004 with a new coach, new rookies, and some friends from Kent and Cleveland, and once again very promising high school teams. After a great season the ladies looked forward once again to the summer tournaments, making great showings at the Canton Ruggerfest and the Tackle Cancer 10's tournament. In the fall of 2004 the team saw some staying power after a few old favorites joined up again for the cause. The First Annual Akron Rugby All-Male Revue fundraising event saw fruition with a large amount of baby oil and great support from the Akron Men's team.
In the spring of 2005, the women's team again fueled the rugby fires with talented high school teams. New friends from Cleveland and some more from Kent made fine road companions as the team traveled to the Ohio Classic in Columbus OH and Rochester NY. The ladies also traveled to Savannah to join forces with the Fort Bragg/Eno River ladies. The group took third place. Using the momentum from the spring, the ladies donning wife beaters placed 2nd at the Canton Ruggerfest. Once again the ladies traveled to a very wet Pittsburgh to play in the Tackle Cancer 10's tournament. The fall of 2005, saw a large recruiting effort. With many new girls, the ladies saw many victories including a momentous one over Ohio University. The fall also saw too much of the men's team at the 2nd Annual Akron Rugby All-Male Revue fundraising event.