Marion Black Rhinos Rugby
History Part 1
By Randy Hartman
1st Season: Spring of 1977. Dave Ferguson, a local boy who was introduced to the sport while attending UCLA, organized the team. The jersey colors were purple and white bands. The home pitch was at Glenwood Park, on the west side of Marion. The first season was played with only 12 players for Marion. I, Randy Hartman, am the only one who is still active with the team. The club's first match was played at Sandusky. There is no print available about the first season, but memory tells me that Marion lost by a large margin and that it was officiated by a female referee; the first and only I have ever seen.
At the end of the spring 1977 season, the club traveled on the first of three trips to Toronto, Ontario Canada, to participate in the "Magnificent Sevens," an annual sevens tournament held during July of each year by the US and Canadian teams there. To my knowledge; it was the only time Marion played a foreign speaking team (French), from Quebec. A week before our second venture to the tournament in 1978, Randy Potts, local rugby legend, joined the team. We knew he was going to be special when he scored on his first possession of the ball. It would be months before he played in his first 15's match.
Dave Ferguson hosted Marion's first post-season social after the spring 1977 season. It was called the 1st Annual Beer/Barbecue Bust. Each player provided his own beer and barbecue. I remember that there was not much camaraderie after this first season, and the quality of the athletes was not great. Everyone was pretty quiet and reserved.
Fall of 1977 seemed to be a better season. It was then that we picked up Mike Ring, who had some college football experience. Word of the game had gotten around town and it had brought out some good, hard, beer-drinking, ex-high school athletes from Pleasant. The team took on a rowdy personality. At the end of the season, we had only won two matches, but we had a reputation for being hard hitters; Aaron Exley, Randy Ranson, Mike Deskins, Mike Ring, and future Ohio All Star Kevin Isler. Kevin had played rugby for four years at Miami of Ohio before returning home to Marion for four years. In 1983, he moved to Cincinnati and played for the Wolfhounds. His brother Kirk, another former Miami rugger, began playing with us about a year later. It was during this time, about 1978-83, that the club was the most memorable for me. We were competitive, we traveled together, partied, before every match. Together on Fridays (wives included) we ate dinner together, etc.
It was also during this time that we participated in the Ohio 7's tournament. During 1977 and 1978, we were a good 7's team. In July 1979, we entered the "Marion Mini-Marathon" as a team. I remember we all wore our jerseys in the 3-mile run. It was HOT.
In spring 1979, we moved the team to the OSUM field. A new player, Harry Pappas, from Canton RFC, was on the advisory board at the school, and convinced them that a rugby team would be good for the student body. At the same time, we changed team colors to a white jersey with a gray band bordered by two black stripes (top and bottom). These were very sharp looking jerseys, but not real durable. At Easter of that year, we took 15 players to the Easter Tournament in St. Louis. Though I don't remember much of the games, it was a very memorable time. Our long used, long gone nickname- The Mole-sters, was born on that trip. While looking for a mascot, any mascot, (we weren't going to be picky), Les Kyle found a dead mole. He tied it's tail to his shoestring and spent the day walking around dragging it from his foot. Transportation- two pickups, one with a full cap/camper, the other with a two person 1/4 cap. The one with the full camper locked up on the was to the tournament and we had to leave it in Illinois. We pitched a tent in the back of the other truck and continued on. We drove the team back to Marion in the same trunk.
To go back and show how close a team we were, 1979 was the year that "Dirty Love" debuted. It was an every other month newsletter that Mike Ring, Kevin Isler, and myself wrote. We would recap the games, put out coaching tips, and start rumors about players. It lasted about a year.
1981- We had talked about hosting a tournament since several of us traveled to Cleveland in 1980 to watch the England select side beat the crap out of the US Mid-West select side, 58-0. We got a sponsor, Montgomery Ward Auto Club, and dreamed up a name: The 1st Annual Teapot Dome Rugby Scandal. We printed 500 fliers and posted them in every bar in town. The Marion Star ran a story for us and it wasn't long before the Warren Harding Society called the school and demanded that we change the name and write a letter of apology, which we did. It became the Marion Rugby Tournament. At the end of the season, we were asked to leave the campus. We played the next season mostly on the road and two home games at Marion Catholic High School. We practiced at Lincoln Park. The Tourney was a huge success though. The party was held at the National Guard Armory- which has a concrete floor- great for beer slides. We had a rumney snuffing contest, airband battles, a food fight, and naked elephant walks. I remember a team from New York calling to ask if they could come next year, but at the time we thought we were done. Word had gotten around from college kids home from the summer.
By spring of 1982, Dave Beckle was established at the school and wanted us back. He was working on his resume and needed a project (us). We had our second tournament in 1982. At the same time, Ohio was in the process of selecting it's state All-Star team. It was done via tournaments; held regionally. We were a part of the Northwest, and traveled to Toledo for it. Selectors watched every match in order to choose a player for each position. Toledo, Lima, Findlay, Sandusky, Marion, and Defiance (now defunct), were represented. Randy Potts, Les Kyle, and myself were selected. Les as a backup, Potts and I as starters. We went to several practices for the team at Bowling Green, in preparation for a tourney with the other regions of the state in Columbus. Randy Potts was chosen as a back up center for the All-Ohio team. I remember traveling to Cincinnati with him for an Ohio vs. Kentucky match. Potts got to play quite a bit and did us proud. We hosted our 3rd annual tournament in 1983. I don't know what happened after that. People moved, got married, and we were put on state probation for stealing kegs of beer at a Toledo party and then a big brawl in Lima after a game. The team folded. A few of us went to Scioto Valley and practiced but never played. I remember going to Wright-Patterson to play with them. I even went to Findlay for a season. Then I got transferred in 1984 and played with Canton. I came back in 1987.
-Randy Hartman