TJ NIEHAUS

A simple ad in the Daily Nebraskan during TJ Niehaus’ junior year of 1973 read, “Rugby Players Needed.”  That is all it took for him to get involved with rugby, a sport that he remembers watching in high school during a Wide World of Sports broadcast at home in Grand Island, NE. 

He recalls playing on the turf in Memorial Stadium against KCRFC and was instantly hooked.  Although he only played two seasons with UNL during the inaugural year, the sport remained close to him as he traveled to California.  He continued to play loose forward with the Sacramento Capitals before a torn ACL sidelined him for a few months.  Once rehabbed, he tried his luck with a year of semi-professional football, but he had a calling to move back to his hometown. 

He opened TJ’s 4th Street Tavern in 1980 and successfully ran it, along with the Grand Island Rugby Club, for nearly eight years. Members from the GI club once toured the UK with members from KCRFC; and the club hosted a popular 7’s tournament on a regular basis.  There was a revival of the GI Rugby Club in the late 90’s for a couple of years as he coached his son along with a few other athletes from Hastings College.

TJ and his wife Tammy live in Gilbert, AZ and have four children and seven grandkids between them.