All AC grads have their Roo alumni “think tank” groups that get
together periodically. I certainly have my own. One of them includes a
fella named Pat Abernathey.
Today, Pat lives in Boulder, CO where he works and raises a family.
He’s also a Colorado High School coach in the sport of rugby.
Back in the spring of 1992, Pat was my Luckett Hall roommate during my
last semester before graduation. I returned from a Janterm in Mexico
and moved in; the place was an absolute mess. Later that evening, I
tracked him down at an AC basketball game at Hughey. “You’re lucky I
cleaned,” he said. Yeah, I don’t let him forget that.
Our
Luckett room was on the 3rd floor. The room was on the northwest corner
of the building; we had a perfect view of the little circle drive where
residents would arrive and depart. There, we engaged in all types of
mature adult behavior. We’d light and throw firecrackers at friends
coming and going. We’d leave 3 a.m. recordings of Scotland the Brave
(fraternity song) on the answering machines of our buds. If a party was
happening, we’d stay; if we got bored though, we’d head back to Luckett
to waste hours watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Usually, it was
just the two of us in that room. Sometimes three or four. One
afternoon in May 1992, it was about 40.
John Talley
had a reputation of scaring the s!@# out of everyone. Bushes, closets,
balconies, the guy gave us heart attacks for years. That May, we
planned our revenge. With the assistance of Kelly Carver & Phil Novicki,
we got up at dawn, made our way to John’s house with a video camera
(not easy in 1992!), hid in his tub, and waited for Mr. Talley to
stumble to the bathroom to do what all guys do to start the day.
His shock at our scream was captured on video, and everyone who got the
news later at Slater’s wanted to see it. So off 40 folks went to
Luckett to watch it all on Pat’s VCR in our room. It didn’t disappoint;
the roar of laughter was a moment, rattling up and down ol’ Luckett
Hall. John was there, laughing along with us. Talley is back in Dallas
this summer after years in California! Welcome home JT.
Pat
loves his rugby, and the rest of us kid him about it. Rugby? Who plays
rugby? What’s up with those throw-ins when they lift dudes up by the
shorts? Why do they call a score a “try” when they obviously succeeded?
Why not call it a “Do”? Do or do not. There is no try.
I
once asked Pat. “What’s the greatest moment in rugby history?” Pat
pointed me to a youtube clip of a 1973 try by the Barbarians (England)
against the All-Blacks (New Zealand). It’s pretty impressive, but it
also led to more ridiculing from me. When a moment calls for something
over the top, I’ll break out “if the greatest writeerrrrr of the written
worrrrrrrdddd would have written that story, noooooo one would have
believed it.”
But we all know. Rugby is the real deal. It’s a
beautiful game, and a tough game. It is popular globally, and
increasingly so in the United States. More high schools and colleges
are taking up the sport. Rugby has even appeared in a Roo Tale.
Rugby is a Southern hemisphere game, an export from 19th century
England. The northern hemisphere was more partial to England’s 18th
century export: soccer. However, rugby happened find a home in Canada,
and was eventually imported into the U.S. as American football. It
took root in 1884, when Tufts University watched a Canadian school
played against Harvard and immediately challenged the Crimson to a game
themselves. That Tufts-Harvard matchup was the first football game in
America; it took place on a field just north of campus in Cambridge, MA.
Nine years later in 1893, Austin College played the first college
football game in Texas.
Interestingly, Pat and I were pulled over
by the Massachusetts cops just a mile or so from the site of that rugby
influenced Tufts-Harvard game in 1884. I was studying at Tufts, and
Pat was in town for a visit. We were driving my Texas registered car
towards Harvard on Mass Ave. Texas had recently moved the registration
sticker from the plate to the windshield. I was unaware. The Cambridge
cop was unaware. Pat, however, knew of the change and told both the
officer and me exactly where it was. Nobody listens to Pat though, and
the cop and I continued our conversation for an eternity as if he
weren’t there. Yeah, he doesn’t let me forget about that.
Eric Sanderson
was a Tufts grad school colleague and friend during that visit by Pat.
Eric has since spent years with Atavus Rugby, promoting the sport
worldwide. There’s a picture of Eric with his Atavus colleagues at a
pre-game ceremony alongside Jonah Lomu, one of the best to every play
the game. Lomu was a member of New Zealand’s All-Blacks, a team famous
for its pregame ritual chant known as “The Haka.” Lomu was good and The
Haka is intimidating, but it wasn’t enough to stop Francois Pienaar
(Matt Damon) and Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) from winning the 1995
World Cup and uniting a nation.
Life eventually took me back to
Texas, where Pat was both playing and coaching. Life eventually took
Pat to Colorado. He no longer plays. He’s old like me. But he still
coaches. When we all get together, he likes to talk rugby. We do our
best to jump in, but for many of us rugby is about as familiar as the
words yelled in the Haka.
So what’s the point of all of this
drivel? Abernathey, Luckett, Roo Tales, Massachusetts, The Haka,
Invictus, Colorado, and the sport of rugby? Enough already Marc.
What’s up?
Well, Pat Abernathey is a member of the coaching staff
of Boulder High School’s rugby team. After a grueling 2019 regular
season and an even tougher journey through the playoffs, Boulder has
methodically advanced all the way to a Colorado State Championship game.
Abernathey’s squad will square off against Broomfield (a Denver
suburb) tomorrow, May 15th. The winner will be a state champion.
So give Coach Abernathey a shout out for a fine season in Colorado, and
good luck to Boulder as they attempt to bring it home. Great job Pat.
One more win. Your rugby coaching makes me wanna write a story so good
that “if the greatest writeerrrrr of the written worrrrrrrdddd would
have written that story, noooooo one would have believed it.”
