1970's

By the Spring of ’74 practices and games were held at Peoria Stadium, on what are now soccer pitches along War Memorial Drive. This was very convenient, in that Carver Lumber (where Aldi’s now sits) often donated lime to mark the pitch. The post-game “clubhouse” was conveniently located across the street at The Stadium Club, a drinking establishment of lesser repute and even lesser clientele. The “rugby boys” actually classed the place up a bit. For you history buffs, you can still see the ashes of several Piggie’s cookouts in the alley behind P.S.Nice Tan. Matches in the spring of ‘74 were held with the Bloomington Blues, Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, and Quad-Cities RFC. Peoria also participated in the Augie Demma Memorial Tournament held in Cambridge, Illinois in the middle of July.

In the Fall of 1974, matches were played against Western Illinois University, Lincoln Park (Chicago), University of Illinois, Northwestern University, and at the Quad-Cities Invitational Tournament. The first try by Peoria was scored by center Doug Dougherty, a tall speedy youngster from Bradley University. Even though the match was lost, it provided this team a legitimacy that it previously lacked. By this time, the club had standardized on navy blue jerseys or shirts as standard, probably due to the influx of Bloomington Blues players and the ready availability of cheap blue t-shirts.

In 1975, the jerseys became Scarlet and Black. The deciding factor in going with Scarlet & Black was that John Spence of JOC in Des Moines had them in stock at the time. Since players purchased their own jerseys, the $13.50 price tag seemed like a good deal.

From 1976 through 1978 the club changed from having mostly university students to having mostly local players. In the fall 1978, Joe “The Snake” Goett was tricked into joining the club by his uncle Jeff Goett. When Jeff found out that you had to actually play in order to get to the beer, he quit. “The Snake” stayed on. In 1979, with encouragement from local Spalding graduates Bill & Tom Lucas, the club played an exhibition halftime match during Spalding Institute’s Homecoming Football game. There were many laughs from the crowed as the 2 teams came onto the field at the 50 yard line in our shorts. With Zant and Wahoo announcing the match, the crowd let out a "WOW" as the first tackle was made after the kickoff. They quickly became involved with cheers and actually seemed to appreciate some good plays even as hands were used in the scrums to speed the ball to either side to take advantage of the short half-time being allowed for the match. Some time during the melee, Piggie Scott Morlock put a crushing pile-driver tackle on “Snake,” resulting in the first of his many separated shoulders.

The latter half of the 1970’s saw the Peoria RFC grow and stabilize into a serious football club, albeit one that never lost sight of it’s social origins. The post-game party location moved several times, and included Joe Miller’s Fonzie’s, BeeGee’s on North Adams and various pubs up and down Illinois Route 29. The club moved it’s home pitch to Detweiler Park in 1977, where it remained until the mid-1990’s. The original steel goal posts are still in place, and the club has maintained it’s Tuesday/Thursday practices there for over 25 years.

Club records are sketchy at best from this era, but several of the original Piggies are still around, and visits to the Rugby Old Folks Home has revealed that:

· The First Piggies Road Trip: Kansas City Tournament (where the name “Piggies” originated)

· First Allouette Girl: Hey, leave my wife outa this!

· First Current River Canoe Trip: A University of Missouri Rolla rugby tradition was extended to Peoria, thanks to Balls Weiss.

· First Hog Roast: at Balls’ house near Delavan. The Mackinaw River was nearby for a swim & the Fu-kaw-we Warriors paid a visit to the team crying, “We da fu-kaw-we?!?”

· First Winter Banquet: Held at Steak & Bake on North Knoxville, next to the Roach Motel down from Vonachen’s Junction. The first “Foreign Phil’s Awards” were given at that banquet, a tradition that still lives today.

Peoria added several members during the late 1970’s who impacted the club greatly over the next quarter century. Nick Ripley came over from jolly old England, and is still actively involved in club politics. As recently as 2001, Nick was Club President and a standard-bearer for Peoria Rugby throughout the state.

Mike Schubach – played for the team briefly in the late 70’s while on break from his IU Rugby days. Mike came back with a vengeance in the 80’s to lead the club in many capacities.

Joe Goett – Joined the team in ’78, Social Chair in ’79, Vice-president, President, Union President throughout the 80’s. Got a life in 1988, and now only “pretends” to play Olde Boys.

Dan Callahan – An Inside-Center with a Wing Forward mentality, Dan brought his Monmouth College Fightin’ Scots middle-linebacker skills to Peoria, and terrorized back lines for many years.

Doug “Brown Snake” – The first of many to claim the “snake” moniker, this Dartmouth grad brought grace and style to Peoria Rugby. Ah, who am I kidding? He was a foul-mouthed lout like the rest of us.

John “Snake Eyes” Hamilton – Lady-killer and 2^nd row, what a combination. They weren't really “snake eyes,” more like two piss slits in the snow.

Other notables include: Tom Hannah, Hank Alyward, Dan Binz, Mark Morrow, Randy Moon, Mike “Nellie” Nelson, Jim Mellenbeck, Bill Lucas, Tom Lucas, Greg Goett, Jeff Goett, Jim Andreoni, Joe Miller & the Willi Brothers.