Jim McAndrews, Ray Dearborn, Mark Velci, Lee Tripodi and Joe Kadelack
A great turnout of close to 130 players, parents, alumni and friends made the 2012 Parent’s & Alumni dinner the best yet. Held at the American Legion Hall in downtown SLO, the dinner was coupled with the team’s award presentations that marked the end of the Cal Poly Rugby season.
In attendance at this year’s dinner were Hall of Fame inductees Phil Northcraft, Charles ‘Boo’ Zanoli, Doug ‘Bubba’ Smith and Vic Rivera. A special thanks goes to alum Ron Bass for donating and putting on the BBQ, as he has done year in, year out. Also, well done and thanks Mark Velci who flew in from Thailand! And finally a special thanks to Eric Rasch for coordinating the silent auction that was a tremendous success.
There was also a great turnout from the 1981 class including Mike Nunno, Kerry Stevens, Neil Crawford, Steve Timsak, John Wathem and Jon Babich. That class alone has raised over $3,500 in the past month for the club. A great effort that we would love to see other year groups match or do better.
The dinner is one of two major fundraising events held by the Cal Poly Rugby Club & Mustang Rugby Inc, and is crucial to the financial stability of the club. Through auction items donated by not only the direct affiliates of the club but by the very generous San Luis Obispo community as well, the dinner raised just over $10,000 for the club.
This money will be directly contributed to covering the club’s operating expenses that are required to get the team on the field week by week. Expenses include coaching, equipment, field rental, refereeing and travel expenditure. During the 2012 pre-season the club traveled to Mesquite Nevada for a great hit out against top seed Utah University; they were then back in Las Vegas a few weeks later competing in the 7s College Rugby Championship qualifier. That was on top of the 7s squad travelling to College Station Texas for the inaugural USA Rugby National 7s Championships where the team finished 8th. Traveling to participate in tournaments and pre season matches against other top ranked college teams is crucial to the teams preparation come the start of the league season.
The event organizers would like to thank a few people and businesses that kindly donated items for the silent auction; Paso Robles Wine Festival, Cambria Bikes, Franks Hotdogs, Eureka Burger, Splash Café, Dixon Florist, Luke Calavassy from Waratahs Rugby, Tatafu Polota Nau, Novo Restaurant, Pappy McGreggors, The Cut Scene Beauty Salon, Madonna Wines and Anderson Honda.
Thanks for a great evening. We hope to see more parents, alumni and friends of Cal Poly Rugby in attendance next year.