GRR: Awards
In a time when the best of thw West Coast often came from California exclusively, Jeff Lombard was an outlier.
A big, powerful flanker from Western Washington University, the lifetime Northwesterner cut his teeth in the always imposing British Columbia league, and forced his way onto the USA national team at a time when playing in Washington and BC was a quick road to obscurity.
Kirk Khasigian had the unenviable task of replacing one of the USA's all-time greats, as he pulled on into the Eagle #2 jersey after the retirement of Tom Billups.
A smooth and intelligent flyhalf out of Penn, Ines Rodriguez was one of those players who just glued everything together.
A superb playmaker in 15s for Penn and later for top-level clubs in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez was capped eight times by the USA.
Jay Hanson’s story is a classic one of the early days of the modern era of American rugby.
He found rugby where he could, and continued to perform at a high level whenever he did so. He played in high school in Maryland when that wasn’t really a thing. He attended TCU and found a club in Fort Worth to play for.
Paul Emerick is one of the greatest American outside backs.
Generally playing at outside center, the former University of Northern Iowa All American and later Chicago Lions was a favorite with fans because he never, ever backed down, was brutally honest about his performance good or bad, and was just plain fun to watch.