SPRING 2006
ANDERSON and SMITH
(Jr.) INDUCTED – On Feb. 25th
John (Andy) Anderson and Tim (Jr.) Smith were
inducted onto the SJRFC wall of fame, in front of a
standing room only crowd at the Dark Horse Pub in
Philadelphia. Many things about the inductions were
unique including the fact that both deserved inductees
tied in the voting, which is done by previous inductees.
Bill Popoff, SJRFC President, was the master of
ceremonies for the evening and after some club
presentations he moved onto the John Anderson
induction. Andy was presented to the crowd by former
speed winger/scrum half Mike Byrne. After a nice
formal presentation Andy took the floor and his
induction speech was different. It appears to this
writer that Andy, having watched previous inductions,
decided that he would leave out nothing or anybody that
could be used against him later when the ad-hoc roast
started. He covered it all! He probably even alienated a
few more people. But that’s Andy!
Then came Smith Jr.
Before Popoff could get Tim’s presenter up a most
uncomfortable thing occurred when Tim (Sr.) Smith got
up to make his presentation only to be told – “wrong Smith”.
It was embarrassing, plus I heard he brought a lot of people
with him to see his induction. He was last seen chugging
Guinness’s.
Anyway Tim (Jr.)
Smith was presented to the crowd by the SJRFC coach Bill Shapiro. What a presentation! It went on and on and
on. I was informed by a previous inductee that it was the
longest introduction by 20 minutes. Where did he get all
this stuff? Finally Tim accepted his induction and was most
gracious to the audience. Tim did have a lot of people that
came especially to the induction. In fact Jim Weir came all the way up from Huston to attend.
By this time we were
already running late in our move to our private bar, from
the restaurant. Further, the roasting was still to come.
Many people had nice things to say about both inductees,
including Jim Weir who made an especially moving
speech for Tim. The true comic relief came from two sources.
One of course was Rich Porecca who has the place in
stitches yet again. The other was Chris Veley who
showed a sly sense of humor, not seen by his opponents on
the rugby pitch.
By now we had lost the
private bar. So we just stayed and drank in the restaurant.
A good time was had by all. Congrats Tim and Andy.
Hope to see you all
there next year.
2005 CONTRIBUTIONS - Would like to thank the following people for their
contribution to the OLDE GUARDE:
| George Finan |
Rick Muckridge |
| Gerry McDonnell |
Steve English |
| Lance Manga |
Wynn Meyers |
| Victor Luacas |
Tom Ferguson |
| Curt Gruber |
Jack Chance |
| Steve Dreher |
Bill Shapiro |
| Bob Mascali |
Tom Higgins |
| Casey McKee |
Mike Hunt |
| Tim Smith Jr. |
Terry Haas |
|
Rich Porreca |
Geoff Ryder |
| John Soanes |
Tim Lenihan |
| Ben Risley |
Merril Lynch |
| John De Coste |
Pete Hesler |
| Jeff Brady |
Paddy Deighan |
| Tim Smith SR. |
John Anderson |
|
Mike Bonner |
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Our projects are
expanding in 2006 and we hope you will be able to contribute
again or for the first time. Please remember that the South Jersey Olde Guarde is a fully recognized charity
under the federal rules 501C3. This means you are
able to deduct any monies you contribute to the Olde Guarde
from your taxes. Please contribute.
GOLF OUTING – Don’t forget that our annual major fund raiser golf outing
takes place this year on Friday June 16th. At Indian
Springs. This is usually a sellout and you are advised to
register early. You will find a registration page on the
South Jersey RFC website. Hope to see you there.
OLDE GUARD BOARD OF
TRUSTEES – You may not be aware of
this but the OLDE GUARDE is governed by a nine (9)
person board of trustees. Each member is elected to serve
for 2 years. From the group of nine, the officers of the
group are elected. At this years election Tom Higgins decided to step down after his 2 years. The members of the
board appreciate the work that Tom did during his term. The
results of the election to replace Tom resulted in Larry
Hubert winning the seat. The other members of the board,
whose term had expired, expressed an interest in remaining
on the board and were re-elected. The officers were then
selected and this is the composition of the board until next
year’s elections:
|
President – Curt Gruber
VP – John Anderson |
|
Treasurer – Casey McKee |
|
Secretary – Larry Hubert |
|
Trustees: |
|
Tim Smith (Jr.), Adam Greenberg, John DeCoste, Bob
Carr, Paddy Deighan |
DID YOU KNOW –
Curt Gruber
took over as coach of the high school rugby team and as of
this writing they were undefeated.
Steve Albrecht
may be long gone but his son is playing for the University
of Delaware rugby club. Of no surprise is that he is a
kicker. Andy sent the following from the University web
site:
“Wednesday morning I received an email from
Navy, they were hosting the British Naval College team and
Loyola was scheduled to play them on Thursday night, but on
Tuesday they called Navy and cancelled. Delaware
answered the call and took on another game on Thursday and
hosted the British Team.
The Brits stormed the field and took a 12 to nil advantage
against Delaware in the beginning of the event. A monster
run by inside center Dave Camburn for the first try and
ensuing runs by winger Bryan Tingle put the Delaware team up
15-12 with a last minute penalty kick by Steve Albrecht.
A nearly 15 minute goal line stand by Delaware forwards with
flanker Gio in the sin bin for talking bad about the Queen
mother helped to squash any attempt by the British team in
getting back into the game. A break away run by winger
Tingle put the game out of reach. Final score, Delaware 27,
Brits 12.”
The SJRFC and the OLDE
GUARDE have a new website that is an upgrade from the
previous one. The site can be reached at:
http://southjerseyrugby.org/
Then click on Olde
Guarde in the upper right corner.
As I write this the site
is still being finalized, but if you go there you will see
the difference. Plans are being made to make the site
PAYPAL usable. This will allow you to use your credit
card to make SJOG contributions, register for the
golf tournament and buy various things such as rugby shirts,
tee shirts, hats, etc. You will also find the newsletter out
there. In time this website will become the key
communication vehicle for the Olde Guarde.
Please forward any suggestions to improve or
point out any incorrect information.
SEE YOU AT THE GOLF TOURNAMENT!!!
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