1980's

The 1980’s were, in some respects, the banner years of Peoria Rugby. Recruiting was high, with many more players from Bradley joining the club. Peoria had gained a statewide reputation for hosting some of the best post-game parties around. A strong group of “rugger-huggers” provided a hot meal for teams from Chicago and St. Louis. Peoria often fielded three and a half full sides for home games, and traveled with 2 ½.

Conditioning was stressed, and “running the hill” at Detweiler became the standard PRE-PRACTICE warm-up. The culmination of all that hard work was Peoria’s winning of the Illinois Rugby Football Union tournament in the Fall of 1983. No other IRFU team besides the University of Illinois had ever contended for the title. So confident of retaining the cup was Illinois, that they did not even bother to bring the trophy to ISU that weekend. They had probably already made an appointment at the engravers. Peoria defeated U of I and Paducah that weekend to garner the title, and sent former U of I (now Peoria) hooker Mickey O’Neil to Murphy’s in Champaign to claim the trophy. So intoxicated with victory was Peoria, that instead of engraving “Peoria RFC” on the trophy, they opted to write the current team motto, “How ‘Bout Them Pigs?” on the base.

The 80’s also saw Peoria traveling far afield to play in tournaments. Some of the best (from a story-telling perspective) were the Louisville & Nashville Tourneys, while the Dayton and Milwaukee tournaments provided some of the best rugby. Peoria also instituted it’s famous Olde Boys game during the early 80’s. Originally called the P.I.T.S. (Peoria Illinois Touring Side) vs. the P.O.D.S. (Peoria’s Old Decrepit Side), the game is still played every spring around Memorial Day weekend. Original Piggie Don Gurik returned from his Caterpillar overseas assignment during the 80’s, and three-time Foreign Phil’s Award winner Snake Goett retired to a “real job” at Caterpillar in 1988.

Many, many new faces joined the club during the 80’s, including:

Rod Pauli - 4 time Foreign Phils Award winner, still active in Central Illinois rugby

Joe Miller – in his second childhood, Joe returned to the team

Jim Ardis – First a Peoria City Councilman, now Mayor, who says Piggies can’t excel?

Dave Willi – Part of the trio, and a member of the Mardis Gras Tour of 1982.

Joe Gote – A Pennsylvania-bred Wing Forward, and hard-hittin’ mother

Scott Carlson – Omaha-bred Fly-half with a huge boot, and great moves

Steve Corwell – former U of I 8^th man, extremely durable

Steve & Muff Krist – two soccer boys who played with abandon

John B. Huschen – former State’s Attorney, now a judge

Tim Probyn – former fugitive, seen by many a judge

Ken Fischell – 6’5” 375 pounds when he started, Ken dropped 100+ pounds as a rugger

Also: Tom Smith, Mickey O’Neil, , Jim Andreoni, Jerry Dwyer, Lon Fulton, Charlie Parod, Tex Kingman, Ken Fischell, Turtle, Steve Montez, Jim Tilson, Marc Ericson, Ray Perisin, and many, many more…..