In 1974 a few brave men decided it would be a good idea for Tacoma to have a Rugby Club. Commitment ran the gauntlet from the “Enthusiast” to the “Fanatic” to “Fair Weather Man.” Over the years little has changed. Long side-burns, then no side burns, and now back to long sideburns. The Nomads played in the one and only league which was the top and the bottom. We consistently find ourselves generally trailing Beach and Seattle and the now defunct Chuckanut Bay. Our active roster fluctuates which means on any given Saturday we may only field a team and a few extras for a two game fixture. Players still come and go, as Nomads are prone to do. Why in blazes couldn’t the team been named the Gibraltors? The Re-Bars? The Headstones? One thing has never changed and that is the very well known fact that Tacoma may not win every game but it has always been the embodiment of a Club. What follows is an oral history of our little club as edited by a whole bunch of Orators.

1974
January: The club was founded by a handful of men spearheaded by Ed Winskill and Jeff Carlson. The first executive committee consisted of: Ed Winskill, President; Tony Weeks, Vice President; Jeff Carlson, Secretary & Treasurer. September 12: Our application to join Fraser Valley Rugby Union is accepted. Union dues were sixty-five dollars. The club flounders due to lack of men and energy and barely survives the first season primarily due to rigors of travel. December 30: Our membership in Fraser Valley Rugby Union is suspended. We are in violation of Article VI, Section 4 of the Constitution Bylaws-”Absence without just cause from two consecutive union meetings.” (This was remedied shortly thereafter.)

1976
Ed Winskill reforms the floundering club. Andy Smith shows up for the first game (vs. Bangor) and appoints himself coach. They launch a spring ad campaign replete with Fat Fred posters. 43 people show for the first practice at Jefferson Park. We join the newly formed Western Washington RFU and play a full schedule for two teams. Andy Smith writes the Constitution. (He had the nicest handwriting and the only inkling of what a Rugby Constitution was!) It was adopted at our first AGM held at the Clover Leaf with great harrumph by the members. Barney Rapp and Steve and Jeff Page hitch up with the Nomads-for life.

1977
Aug: The first Tacoma Sevens is launched in Steilacoom. The Nomads win first place!! Andy Smith, Dave Taskila and Pete Carlson are the proud co-directors.

1978
Barney Rapp purchases the rugby motel on North 31st street. Dues were twenty dollars and practice was at Hunt Jr. High (Daylight Savings) and Franklin Park under car headlights. The Nomads win third place in the Armadillo Classic. The award is a toilet seat.

1979
Jim ‘Tank’ Yeilding moves to the NW, gets health insurance and searches for a local rugby club. Peter Buckley refers him to Valley and Tacoma. Tank can’t find the Valley practice field. 1980 Tank becomes coach of the Nomads.

1980
The Western Washington Union would not sanction the 4th annual Aroma tourney because they felt “Tacoma was making so much money, they should let other clubs reap the benefits of a tournament.” No tournament took place that year.

1981
The Union is restructured into PNRFU. Tacoma opts to play A division. (A positive step) Easter Sunday, 1981, Tacoma wins the Seattle Mud Ball tourney on the fragrant Mont Lake dumpsite. We only had 12 men and pressed former player Rick Baird into service at Hooker. Every time the scrum came together, Rick puked on the ball, and Tacoma won the match!

1982
October 13: The Western Washington Disciplinary Committee suspends Frank ‘Dr. I” Nasser for “mouthing off” at a referee. (Note from Andy Smith: “Was this the first time?”) The Nomads win the Mud Ball, second division.

1983
August: Tacoma is asked to be a National Seven’s Qualifying tournament (for the Aromas) and accepts. The only recorded ‘Rugby Graffiti’ is seen on departure from the Aroma festivities in Orting. A road sign indicating the ‘miles to go’: Sumner 7 was changed to Summer 7’s (but the vandals used masking tape and the cops thought it was real funny.) October: The newly formed Aroma Associates (Steve Page, Jim Magouryk, Barney Rapp, Andy Smith, Frank Kearney, Bobby Knight, Jim Yeilding, Doug Pedersen, Tim O’Hagen, Paul Rock) purchase the our first Club house on East 34th Street. Mike Van Buskirk and Ross Everett were added on as 11th and 12th members later….? Through 85, we keep on winning the Skagit Fest.

1984
Andy Smith becomes coach of the Nomads, again. The Nomads play an exhibition game in the Tacoma Dome.

1986
Nomads host the Japan National team. The Nomads win second place in Spokane RFC’s 12th Annual St. Patty’s Tournament.

1987
Tom Picha broke his High School football protocol by telling Steve Page “Jason Shelton, GET HIM.” The Nomads start there first High School team, The Tsumina’s are born.

1988
April 23-24: Nomads host the Grizzly Shield try-outs. April: Mike Legg’s now famous quote makes the minutes: “We’re the most non-chick gettingest team I’ve ever played for.” May: Nomads bring home the first place trophy in our division from Chuckanut’s Tulip Fest Tournament. After five years of traveling to, and kazooing in parades in Cathlamet, the Nomads win the coveted Bald Eagle Day Cup away from the Jesters. Mike Legg leads several nude Nads in repeated performances of log diving into the Columbia River. This takes place in front of the local restaurant, in full view of many of the town?s upstanding citizens. The two Taverns in town each give us gift certificates to drink at other taverns.

1989
The Nomads and Jesters are banned from Cathlamet. Nomads win first place in the Yakima 10’s Tourney of The Gods. Our biggest trophy ever, it measures 42″ high. Nomads win second place in Skagit Valley’s Ruggerfest.

1989
The Page Brothers create the Two Bills. They debut in the Aroma Sevens. The Year of the Red Dot: We didn’t get the embroidery done for the Lingering Aroma (Old Boys) Puerto Vallarta tour so Barney (ala Lynny Flye)got a bunch of red dots and sewed them on the sleeves. Their meaning is still a (old boy) secret.

1991
Three years of Puerto Vallarta Tours! 1991 Maureen McHugh Ropes steps into position to be the first ever-female executive committee member. She holds the position of Secretary for 2 years. 1992 The Articles of Incorporation are amended in order to meet 501(c)3 guidelines. July 18: Mike Van Buskirk hosts the first and only Cross-dressing Volley Ball Yard Sale Party. It’s a fundraiser for the Tour d’Legg. Oct: Coach Carl, recruited from South Africa, becomes coach of the Nomads and proceeds to drain the club (and club members) of its funds. Carl lasts for seven months before abandoning the Nads for a bigger pocketbook; OPSB.

1992
Aug: The first annual Nomad-O-Lympix is born. Dec/Jan: Tour d’Legg: Nomads tour England and the Cayman Islands (led by tour guide Mike Van Buskirk). The Nomad pub crawl is 15 years old now.

1993
June: Led by Maureen Ropes, the Women of the Tacoma Nomads form their own group; Supporters Of The TNRFC. (S.O.T. formerly W.O.T.)  OPSB (Beach) abandons the Tacoma Aroma 7’s, Tacoma wins the Aroma 7’s and the Nomads go to National in Connecticut. Led by Tobin Ropes, the 7’s team goes to Nationals and place 11th in the US. FYI: The Nads get a spot in the Sports section of the local paper, the Tacoma News Tribune.

1994
Aroma Associates sell the clubhouse. March 10th, and purchases the land for the future club house next to the bottom pitch at Portland Ave. The first S.O.T. meeting. Nads tour Alaska.

1996
Ater 3 years of Runner-upping, Nads bring home the 1st place iron from Spokane Fools Fest. Pres. Jason Shelton and Mngr. John Hargroves get the Nads On-line. www.tacomarugby.org

1997
Tacoma RFC beats OPSB (Beach)18-5 at Stewart Heights Park, in Tacoma. This is Tacoma’s first ever 15 a side match win over OPSB. The Nomads 20th Annual Pub Crawl takes place. 

1998
Mark (Sully) Sullivan leaves New Zealand and takes over coaching for the Nomads. The high school boys win there division and go to the US National High School Championships in Utah.

1999
The Tacoma Nomads Rugby Football Club celebrates its 25th year in existence!

2000
PNRFU decides it’s best for the Union to divide the division into two groups. 1st Div and 2nd Div. The Nomads end up in 2nd Div. The Nomads end up winning the 2nd division and the Pacific Coast Playoffs. The Nomads make it all the way to the US Nationals and end up placing 4th in the US. At our Annual 7’s Tournament, the Nomads introduce U-12 Rugby to the kids.

2001
Nomads Retire!!! After placing 4th at Nationals the year before. Some of our great Nomads retire. Peter Handford get’s married, buy’s a house and has many kids and Jason Hill goes back to school, gets a job, gets married and buy’s a house. Both are never seen again.

2002
Kevin Hyneman arrives to the Nomads (thanks Legg) and gets Ft. Lewis rugby going again. The Ft. Lewis Stud Dawgs even make a few appearances. The Nomads travel to Missoula Montana for The Maggotfest!!! And end up cleaning house (thanks to a few Canadians) winning the coveted BEST TEAM OF THE DAY award.

2003
The Tacoma Nomad Executive Committe goes out and finds Lester Wescott our new head coach. Lester takes the Nomads to a 7 - 1 Fall Record. Casper (Gary McMahon) from Australia shows up on Kirk’s doorstep.

2004
The Nomads go 8 - 0 in league play and 14 - 0 in overall play, but eventually lose to Haggis RFC from Utah in the Pacific Coast Playoff’s. Haggis is later disqualified for useing ineligible players in the playoff’s.

2005
While going 6 - 2 in league and 10 - 6 over all. Once again the Tacoma Nomads win the league championship in the PNRFU. While at the Pacific Coast Championships the Nomads go 1 - 1, losing to a tuff Tempe side from AZ. and beating BA Barcus from San Francisco and ending there 15’s season. In 7’s the Nomads qualifed for the Pacific Coast 7’s Tournament.

2006
This was a rebuilding year for the Nomads, we had guy’s retire, we had guy’s at war and we just did’nt get the wins. Finishing 3 and 7 in league play and 10 and 12 overall. Missing the playoff’s for the first time in 4 years. The Nomad 7’s team wins the Aroma 7’s Tournament.

2007
Vetern Nomad Mark Sullivan with the help of Mark Wehn start our 2nd High School team, the Harbour Hurricanes. The Nomads see alot a new faces on the team. The Nomad Pub Crawl is now 30 years old and still going strong. 

2008

The First Players
TNRFC Active Roster - (January-May 1974) Ed Winskill (Co-Founder, 1974 President/Captain), Jeff Carlson (Co-Founder), Dave Olsen, Sam Nikaloa, Bob Pearson, Dave Rowan, Rick Baird, Tony Weeks, Jack Montgomery, Steve Whitehouse, Terry McDonough, Paul Hersch, Bob Nelson, Roy Scholvinck (Coach/Co-Captain), Ed Viramontes, Frank Johnson, Kevin, Doug Scott, Bud Hoff, John Kucher, Steve Daniels, Bob Buttorff, Frank Washburn, Fred Fry.
Inactive Roster- Bob Swarz (Co-Founder), George Madsen (Treasurer) (injured in the first game), Bruce Brinton, Chuck Bingham, Gary Salter, Tom Kennedy.
The very 1st selections were listed out on a piece of a cardboard box.

The Name -Tacoma Nomad Rugby Football
During a meeting after practice at the Brick Tavern in Ruston, many names were proposed, including, “Aroma Football Club” and “Commencement Bay Football Club.” Doug Pedersen repeatedly moved for “Tacoma Screw Products.” It was Andy Smith who supplied the winning moniker. The Nomads are named after the Stroud Nomads of Glouchestershire, England. (Andy had lived 13 miles from Stroud and his roommate at the time was a frequent visitor of the Stroud Rugby Club.)

The Uniforms  - Black & Gold
When Ed Winskill fired the boys up the original colors were maroon and navy(Willamette University, Ed’s alma mater, wore maroon and navy-that way he already had a jersey.) The colors would end up changing to black and gold when Ed brought the club back to active existence. (The boys were all Pacific University Lutes, whose colors were, you guessed it, black and gold.) The second-generation jerseys were black with a 6″ gold middle stripe. The black shoulders on the jerseys tended to overheat during summer play so when it came time to order new jerseys, Doug Pedersen suggested gold shoulders fading into a black bottom. The Executive Committee approved this. Doug then sketched up the design and sent it to Rugby Imports who produced the “nine stripe fading bumblebee.” The colors remain a vibrant black and gold (in a variety of juxtapositions) today. FYI: Our youth team, The Tsunami’s, added navy blue and lots of white to the Naddy colors.

The Origin of the Shield
Steve Page did the original artwork for the club shield in 1979?? Jim Magouryk took it to Korea and had them stitched in a sweatshop. “The first batch came back…. and they were almost all different.” said Steve. A couple of them read: SNOMADS RFC With a few minor alterations, this same crest continues to be the patch that dons all Nomad wear today. The crest symbolization goes something like this: The belching smokestack and the Tacoma Dome contrasts Tacoma’s dark polluted past with it’s bright future. Mount Rainier represents the scenic beauty of the Pacific Northwest. The beer mug indicates the merriment, cheer, and hospitality present in all Nomad ruggers. The rugby ball symbolizes the team’s love for rugby and their competitive spirit. Pepe Le Pew and his tucker bag reminds us of the many Nomad members we have seen come and go throughout the years, and of course, is our team mascot.

Pepe le Pew
The skunk made his debut in 1977 with the addition of ‘Aroma’ to the Summer Sevens tournament title. Doug and Steve plastered Pepe on the t-shirt and Magouryk went on to market it heavily. He looked good on patches, t-shirts and other sellable paraphernalia so we kept him. The Tournaments’ name, Aroma, may have come from the Gonzaga tournament-they always refereed to us as the Aroma from Tacoma. Although, they might have been referring to the distinctive stink which emanates from any one of Tacoma’s community enhancements; the pulp mill, a smelter, meat packing facility and gas works, among other environmental nuisances situated on Tacoma’s docks.

The Union
In the beginning… Tacoma played under the Fraiser Valley Rugby Football Union…. then as a member of the Western Washington RFU. The WWRU and various clubs then formed our own union because Fraiser Valley wouldn’t let us play in their league. We formed two halves of the PNW. It was later reincorporated as the Washington State RFU and the Oregon RFU for the Northwest (now known as the Pacific Northwest) both of which now fall under the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union (PNRFU).

501 (c) 3 Status
The Club applied for non-profit status in 1992. After months of grueling research and governmental red tape, resident lawyers Derek Mann and Andrew Hay managed to acquire our tax-exempt, non-profit501(c) 3 status. The IRS approved an advanced ruling of our new found status as of April 23, 1993. Derek amended the on-file Articles of Incorporation dated Sept 9, 1982 for the TNRFC into a fine working document. Andy prepared the actual application and obtained a favorable advance ruling for the club. In order to meet the standards of a non-profit organization, it is necessary to state our activities. Briefly, those non-profit activities include fostering national and international competition. As a non-profit organization, we are entitled to raise funds, solicit donations and collect dues and tournament fees. By the time the advance ruling period (probation) ended in April of 97, we hoped to achieve these goals: fund raising to support training of rugby athletes, to send the club to qualifying tournaments leading to national championships, and to develop youth/high school rugby; acquire property so suitable facilities can be developed to foster rugby training and competition; and secure a permanent favorable determination to continue as a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. We were on probation for three years and in 1997 received the full and official status and realized our goals. It has been (and still is) diligently upheld by our resident bean counter Ken Samuel.

The Tacoma Nomad Rugby Review (T.N.R.R.)
During her run as Club Secretary, Maureen McHugh created (and continues to do so) the Tacoma Nomads Rugby Review (T.N.R.R.) in order to bring about a more cohesive team spirit. The first issue of the T.N.R.R. was mailed out in 1992. It began with a 4 page spread and has grown into an unprecedented 16 pages packed full of Nomad game highlights, club news, social news, events, photos, sports nutrition, alumni updates, player profiles, classifieds, current laws, treasurer’s reports… and plenty of humour. We believe it to be the largest and most dynamic newsletter in the PNW if not the states, or anywhere. The T.N.R.R. is mailed on a quarterly basis to a growing number of fans and can be obtained by subscription (in the guise of a Contributing Membership) for 25 dollars a year. It will soon be part of our website www.tacomarugby.com

The Clubhouse and Club Property: Past and Future
On October 1, 1983 Aroma Associates was formed. Under this umbrella, the Aroma Associates, made up of ten members of the TNRFC, purchased the house (they each ponied up $500.00 for the down payment.) on 1619 East 34th and christened the Clubhouse at the Christmas Social of that year. We rented out the house and parked ourselves in the garage. From that first day a bottle of Cooks champagne (Rob Simpson WWU President brought it) stayed on the rafters until we sold and moved out and somebody threw it away not realizing it was the christening bubbly.

When we acquired the clubhouse it was in a sorry state of disrepair. Among other things the leaky clubhouse roof needed to be fixed. It was a single pitch roof with major sag. Doug Pedersen generated a construction plan with an estimated cost of 60 dollars. The operation started smoothly. Doug carefully measured and marked the line of the cut. Magouryk fired up his chain saw and proceeded to saw fearlessly along the chalk line, chewing through the old roof, sheathing, joists, and nails, with smoke and sparks flying from the chainsaw blade. Halfway through the operation, the chain came off the saw bar and embedded itself in the hand-guard. After checking for missing fingers, Jim hollered down for a wrench, remounted the chain, and finished up. The cut rafters were then lifted off the ridge beam from below with a Y-shaped post, which was raised by an automotive floor jack manned by Tank Yielding. Later, club members under the able direction of Ken Van Buren installed a new split roof membrane. Showers and a toilet room were constructed in the basement with materials donated by Harrison Plumbing and others, and expertly plumbed by Gorazd Markovcic. As it turned out, Doug overbid his roof job, it came in at 58.00. Clint Smith, an old rugby bud of Barney’s from college, gave us our newfangled fire stove after the original 15 man round garbage burner finally failed.

A low point occurred after kicking out an early renter-from-hell, for failure to pay the rent on the house. After fumigating, and cleaning the maggots out of the refrigerator, and removing the food and feces from the floors and walls, the house was re-carpeted by Tank and Doug using carpet salvaged by Barney Rapp from an office remodel.

That Clubhouse brought us so many great things. We have in secret storage the sign from Western Washington’s rugby house in Bellingham ‘One Thousand Indian.’ We have the elk horn from the bar in Reno (they observed us as we took it and cheered us on. The airport tagged it with a luggage tag stating they weren’t responsible for damage but they didn’t consider it might impale someone’s luggage.) We have the bucket from Devon on Dorssett. We have an autographed ball from the Japanese National team, a plaque from the New Zealand Combined Services, Bam-Bam’s ‘Cote du Nomad’ vino-the wine came from the grapes in the arbor behind the clubhouse on which we peed freely and constantly…. the TNRFC banner that Diana Wachtel stitched together, and there’s always the prophylactic tusked elephant-The Mastacondom, and countless club and touring side plaques and other Nomadic paraphernalia.

We sold the house in 1994 and continue to be clubhouse-less, although that situation will soon change. In order to one day build a new clubhouse a Building Fund was established sometime after Aroma Associates was formed by frequent President Barney Rapp. That day has come. Barney negotiated the purchase of the property adjacent to our home pitch on Portland Avenue. We intend to have a clubhouse built by ????.

At present we hold our post-game activities at The Varsity Bar & Grill in downtown Tacoma.

Secret Weapons
Fort Lewis Recruits: We never would have survived without Fort Lewis recruits. They filtered over from the Fort’s own struggling team over the years. They come and go as the sparsely haired heads are prone to do, and we’ll get a fresh face or two when a new batch of men come to town. Fort Lewis is also the source of the famed Stud Dawgs. In addition to Fort Lewis players, we had a lot of McChord, Airforce guys. They were from the C-130 Hercules squardon. They included Scott and Sandy Lounsbury, and Juan Rangel, now (and for many years) an Alaska Airlines pilot. This was in the mid-late ’70s.

The Stud Dawgs
A military team was passing through Ft. Lewis in 1989 and wanted to play another military team so… Mike Legg got most of the Army guys together with a few extra Naddies, and went for it.The Stud Dawgs are named after Mike’s beloved pooch, Norman (R.I.P.). The most memorable Stud Dawg story is when they put Nomad civilian Doug Bogle in a Private’s uniform and smuggled him on military transport to a military tourney in San Diego. They called him PVT Ellis, and said he was a truck driver.

Branch of Service: Majority US Army, both USAR & ARNG members. Also active members from USAF and USMC, active & reserve.

Team Colors: The most recent team colors are black socks and shorts. White jersey in Godek Eagle pattern, red and black hoops with red numbers. They were always gray before John Dacey came along.

Youth Rugby - Tacoma Tsunamis
Our high school team, the Tsunami’s, was formed in the Spring of 1987. It was developed to bring awareness of the game to a larger number of Tacomans and also to provide an endless supply of fresh meat for the men’s team. In this, it has been successful. The name may have its origin in one of Mike Van Buskirk’s many nicknames; “John Tsunami”. According to Steve Page, when MVB found out a tsunami was a tidal wave, he had the patches printed up before anyone could blink. The team has been coached by a variety of Nomads over the years including Barney Rapp, Doug Bogle, Mike Van Buskirk, Derek Mann, Tobin Ropes, Jason Shelton, Wisski Wisniewski, Chad Nestor, Mark Sullivan and Steve Chanfrau. Team Manager John Hargroves has played a very large part in handling the youth team. Justin Rapp, Barney’s son, is a Tsunami Founding kid. He was on the very first team. In 1998, under direction of Coach and longtime Nomad Chad Nestor, the Tsunamis became the Pacific Northwest High School Champions. They traveled to Nationals in Indianapolis, finishing 11th in the nation.

Youth Rugby - Harbour Hurricanes
Our 2nd high school team, the Hurricanes, was formed in the Spring of 2007. It was developed to bring awareness of the game to a larger number of Gid Harbor area High School kids and also to provide an endless supply of fresh meat for the men’s team. In this, it has been successful. The name may have its origin from Sully’s love of his home counrty New Zealand. The team is coached by vetern Nomads Mark Sullivan and Mark Wehn. In 2007 in there first year of play, the Hurricanes went undefeated and won the Pacific Northwest High School DII Championship.

The Two Bills
The 1989 Tournament Director, Mr. Steve Page, was sitting around with his brother Jeff, a lock, who was lamenting the fact that he couldn’t play sevens. “I’ll just build my own team.” sez Jeff. Steve took it to heart. On tournament week Steve sez: “By the way, I’ve got you scheduled for games.” Jeff made some calls, went to an all nite mesh T-shirt shop… and the big boys got their shot. Eventually they found some big competition with the formation of ORSU’s Beefaloes. These two big sides are still battling it out every year. The Clash Of The Titans is an annual spectacular event. Thanks to Jeff and John Dacey, they always have spanking new XXXL jerseys. Weigh-in is a 200 pound minimum to play.

The Bowlathon
Enthusiastic Nomad George Bender constantly talked about fundraising; whether it was women’s mud wrestling, Bake Sales or Bowlathons, we’d listen to him, and do nothing. One night when George was doing the math on a Bowlathon (again) someone listened and took action. The first Bowlathon occurred in November in the late 1970’s. It became an annual event for a slew of years. Several Naddies have held the title of Bowlathon Chairman over the years including Jeff Page, Ed Walawender, MVB, Jerry Roby, ‘Reno’ Mike Moore, Barney Rapp, and Mike Baker.

In 1998 we opted to ’skip’ the Bowlathon for lack of a chairman and interest. It is yet to be seen whether or not the Bowlathon will rise again.

The Christmas Tree Cut
Instigated by Larry Gregg and Chuck Hampsten in 1993, the Nads carpooled to Chehalis once a year in November to cut Christmas trees. The trees, pre-sold, were brought to Tacoma and distributed among Nomad Christians. The Nomads killed trees for four years. It is doubtful that this event will occur again as Larry’s father-in-law sold his tree farm in 1997. Also, the Club stumbled upon a more lucrative (and less back-breaking) fundraiser…

The Tacoma Dome Security
In 1998, the Club got lucky when the new Tacoma Dome Head of Security also happened to be a ex-rugger. Gene Knight contacted the Nomads and we added to their security force several times a year. To date we have run security for the WWF, Jimmy Buffet, the Dave Matthews Band, Reba McEntire, Korn, DMX, InSync, Elton John, Billy Joel, Airosmith, AC/DC, Snoope Doug…???

Tacoma’s Summer Sevens
In 1977 Andy Smith and Dave Taskila started the first ever Tacoma sevens tournament in the PNW at Charles Peterson Park in Steilacoom. Since then, the Aromas have been held in four additional locations; Orting High school, Wilson High school, Stewart Heights and, the current spot, Portland Ave. Tacoma is the only PNW club that has ever been asked to be a National Qualifier and we now hold that status on a yearly basis. That first year we beat Beach in the final (from a field of five teams) which is the only ??? time Tacoma’s ever won our own tournament. (And that was after Tacoma 2’s forfeited so somebody else could be in the finals.) Although, in 1993, by default, the Sevens team went to Nationals -led by player-coach Tobin Ropes. The Aroma 7’s continues as our primary club fundraiser.

The Pub Crawl
Instigated by Andy Smith in the late 70’s, it continues to be an annual event held on the first Friday after the new year. The Naddies run, walk, bum rides and yes, crawl, from one end of sixth avenue to the other stopping in each place of business willing to sell us a pint or thirty or forty.

The Christmas Social
The first Christmas Social took place in Jeff Copes basement for a while. It’s been at Bob Hill’s house. One memorable year we celebrated Christmas in the newly christened Clubhouse on Portland Avenue. Since 1986 it’s mostly been held in the Pagoda at Point Defiance and a couple times at Titlow Community Center and, most recently the Tacoma Home Organ Society, once. It’s a chance for the Nads to dress up (semi-formally), celebrate the season, dance, eat, exchange white elephant gifts (there’s been some doozies), and generally do what Nads do best-socialize.

Annual General Meeting
Traditionally, our Annual General Meeting is the place to get yourself elected to an Executive Committee position, purchase a used Nomad jersey (and whatever else we have stashed away), have several beers and potluck grub, and, of course, attend the meeting. The first AGM was in late summer of 1976 in the back room of the Clover Leaf Tavern. 1977 ditto. 1978 Bob Hill’s place. 1979 - 92 Hogan’s place in Orting. In 1993 it moved to and continues to be held at the McHugh’s Fox Island paradise.

Rugby-O-Lympix
Chairmen Tobin and Maureen Ropes and Dean and MaryBeth Dorman concocted the Rugby-O-Lympix in 1992. 6 coed teams of 7 vie for 1 year of bragging rights. Ten grueling events include a 150 ft Slip & Slide, the Quarter Butt Drop, Boat Races, Blow Pong, and an Egg Toss. This event ran for two years but we lost Dean (who had a way with the bullhorn) and the event went with him.

Tacoma Dome: 1984
In 1984 we played an exhibition game in the Tacoma Dome and Barney did the play by play with a bad accent. Perv, Jeff Rush, Steve Page, Ken Van Buren and Skipp Frett played in this scripted 5-a-side match (with ‘Gentleman’s Rules for tackling.) They were wearing Ravens jerseys. On the kick-off Skipp disregarded the choreography and ran for the try. That set the pace for the game. We broke all the scripted rules, smashed guys against the wall and scored. (Side Note: not-yet-a-Nad Ken Samuel was working security at this event. He let the Nads in the back door).

Sunrise Elementary School: 1988
Amidst Sunrise’s Australian Culture Studies Program, Nomads Tobin Ropes, Jeff Page and Barney Rapp educated the kids about the sport they love. Tacoma then played a match against Valley for the entire student body.

UPS Loggers: Late 1970’s
We played against Valley at the half. Barney called the play from the press box. He didn’t have the names of the Valley players so he just made them up as he went. We tried to cram a match into a 15 minute halftime show. (Side Note: Kenny Van Buren was in the stands still going to college holding an alcohol awareness session.)

Pierce County Bengal Football: Late 1970’s
This match was Held out at Franklin Pierce High School (Steve thinks) We played Seattle. (He also thinks he broke his ribs there but he can’t remember.) They used to have a fairly decent football stadium and a good team. The point of it (as was the point of all the Exhibition games) was to get some visibility.

U19 High School All Americans
Jason Shelton, Sean Boyd, Jason Hill, Dan Kemp, Andy Tanupo, BJ Sue

Rep Side Player - Loggers, Senior Loggers, Ravens, Grizzles, Black Bears
Dave Duffy, Steve Ellis, Jason Hill, Jeff Page, Tobin Ropes, Jason Shelton, Tom Griffith, Tim Hood, Mark When, Mike Legg, Les Parsons, Mike VanBuskirk, Bill Jacobson, Andy Tanupa, BJ Sue, Randy Sue, Mike Marculec, Mark Bond, Chad Nestor, Barney Rapp, Doug Bogle, Danger Bob, Ty Stark, Corey Martin, Dan Castillo

All Army
Mike Legg, Dave Duffy, Wade Jost, Mike Markulec, Garth Yarnell, Vinnie Torza, Larry Renas, Charlie Powers, Mike Stevenson, Dan Mitchell, Nate Mollika, Simona Totive, Dan Castillo

ORCAS
Jeff Page, Ken Samuel, Jerry Roby, Dave Adams and Ed Walawender

Owels
Barney Rapp

US Eagles
Jason Hill

Nomad Player of the Year
1997 - 1998 Jason Hill
1998 - 1999 Peter Hanford
1999 - 2000 Kevin Tyra
2000 - 2001 Nate Molica
2001 - 2002 Charles Ulafale
2002 - 2003 Dan Castillo
2003 - 2004 Josh Poh
2004 - 2005 Tim Tautala
2005 - 2006 Carlos Lopez
2006 - 2007 Mark Wehn
2007 - 2008 Brian Cottam
2008 - 2009 Casey Beach

Naddie Award
2008 - 2009 Mark Sullivan