BILL SWEARINGEN

Bill was “recruited” in The Zoo Bar during the summer of 1976 by Zoo bartenders and NU Rugby players Daniel “Danny” Nelson and Jim Cunningham.  The Zoo was the NU Rugby bar of that era and the fledgling club was in dire need of new players for the 1976 fall season.

Bill and his fellow rookies including Danny McGuire, Jim Powers and Charlie Rothwell all went on to be contributing players for the NURFC despite winning only one match by a point (7-6).  But it was during this first season of playing where he, in his own words, “Had been bitten by the rugby bug, and fell in love with the game, cementing what would become lifelong friendships with some of my earliest teammates.”  Further, his nickname “Beel” was given by his former Iranian teammate Taimoor Tanivoli, although his nickname sometimes morphed into “Beel McSwearingen” because of his close association with the infamous McGuire clan.

In the spring of 1977, the team took a young, inexperienced, but very fit team to Warrensburg, MO for the Old Drum Rugby Tournament.  We were the only out-of-state team, and the “fix” was in, but we still brought home NURFC’s very first trophy, having placed second.  Also, in 1977 Bill played in the very first Alumni Game (for NU) and continued to do so into his late 50’s.

Early on, he played wing forward, 8-Man, and occasionally hooker, but he soon found his “home” at the position he came to love, loosehead prop.  

Bill and the team were first coached by Englishman Adrian George, and then Australian David Chichen.  A bit later on, former UNL player Vince Powers became the head coach and always said, “While we may suffer from a lack of experience, we don’t have to have a lack of fitness.”   Vince’s regular end of practice wind sprints were cursed by some, but they won many matches in the final 10 minutes, and few complained about that!

It could be said that Power’s coaching consistency took the team to the “next level” in 1981, and Bill was honored to be elected captain along with Danny McGuire.  During this season, UNL won the Omaha Rugby Tournament by defeating GOATS, KCRFC, and Jefferson City (MO) RFC.  Not bad for some college “kids.”  Also in 1981, they hosted and won their very own tournament, the first annual Husker Rugby Classic.

After leaving UNL in 1982, he played for the Lincoln Rugby Club, where they won the Great Plains Union Championship in 1985.  He also briefly played for the Central Oregon Roughriders while working in Bend, OR in the late 1980’s.   In 1997, he acted as an assistant coach in a Combined Lincoln High Schools Rugby Program originated by one of his former Lincoln City teammates, the late John Boehm and Greg Miller.  He was pleased to “Give back to the game that gave him so much fun, and so many good lifelong friends!”

One of his best memories is when he scored a try during the final of the inaugural Husker Classic against the GOATS thus giving the squad their first against that men’s side in the fall of 1981.  To this day, his best memory was the “surreal feeling when we won the 1981 Omaha Tourney!”  He is also grateful for  the many players and supporters that made rugby “such a great game and a fun scene to be a part of.”