Slippery Rock RFC History Page

The history of the Slippery Rock RFC as told by the founders themselves...

In the beginning there were two tiny amoebas… Sorry, not so far back… In the spring of 1981 flyers appeared on trees of the Slippery Rock State College campus referencing a meeting that would be taking place in one of the lecture halls. It stated that like minded individuals should be present for this gathering as the assembled would learn about a game; a game that would invariably, and unbeknown to us, change the way we would interpret our future, our lives and the way we would see ourselves and others. It was a fraternity of sorts (and without all that Greek stuff) though the social aspect would always play a supporting role. Two gentlemen were at the core of the proceedings; Richard “Shirk” Shirkness and Harry Hanlin. A perfect yin and yang for the throng gathered. Shirk was the fun side of the game and Harry was also the fun side of the game, but understood that all the shenanigans happened after the game and the reason for all the shenanigans was because of the game. So Shirk made sure that there was a social aspect for after the game and Harry made sure we were ready for the game.

As with most initial undertakings the first practice was a mess. Eventually it was determined that big guys go here (forwards) and the skinny guys (backs) go there. It was the start of the Slippery Rock Rugby Football Club as it is known today. In our inaugural season we played Juniata, the University of Pittsburgh (We beat Pitt!), and a few others I no longer remember. We had our picture in the 1981 yearbook, but as we had a few incidents, no names were listed.