Can I get a "What What?"

Fullback Erica Anavicsa bags two tries on the day

The ladies got off to a flying start this past Saturday in Tempe 'puttin they foot down!" against ASU  49-10.  Jess Rozul, Jessica Ivey, Kelsey Hebert,  and Sophi McCarthy all crossing the line and Christina Ramos and Erica Anavisca each adding a pair.  Ariel Angues added 3 conversions and a penalty. Read more .

Jen Doman-Flowers

Name:“Do Man” – Now Jen Gina Doman-Flowers

Class of 2000 I actually started the women’s team

Story – How women’s rugby came to UCSB...the second time!



I went to high school in Hong Kong and we only had rugby (for boys) and no football. My freshman year at FT, the security guys stopped me as I was wearing an ALL Blacks jersey. I was playing field hockey for UCSB at the time. Monagan and Shea took me under their wing and we started to have “mixers” with the field hockey team. I was quickly introduce to Noonan, Wren, Haig, etc. and over several ice cold beverages one night we decided we needed a women’s rugby team and only good looking women need apply. Our first practice, was Noonan with a 6 pack and 5 girls….

Favorite memory – Where to start
· Everything Erica did was priceless…
· My leaving to Taiwan and coming back to a swearing and DRINKING Brenda Baxter. What would Jesus do?
· Tia smashing people in the game, then putting on mascara at half time
· Jessie punching a girl in the face with FDR dressed as French fries
· Golnaz who left her “Cleats” on the field
· Being told by the pilot he would turn the plane around if the 40 rugby players standing in the last 5 rows would not sit down
· 20 ruggers slammed in the back of my Bronco going to the drink ups
· Living in the rugby house with 6 rugby boys, a bolted up kitchen, Astroturf floor and fly trips in the living room…

Pic – some of the ruggers at my wedding last year.

Learning the hard way

One week after shocking Cal Poly, the men were dismantled by Arizona 51-10 in Tucson.  "Arizona played with tenacity, passion, and purpose," said Coach Battle.  "We simply did not."  read more here:  Harsh Lessons in SoCal Colleges

Gauchos round up them Mustangs!

After a very slow start to the season, our beloved Gauchos defeated  Cal Poly 19-10 this past weeken in San Luis Obispo.

When asked for a comment at the end of the match, Gaucho Coach Battle simply stated "...there is a God"

for more more on this story, click:UCSB Shock Cal Poly


UCSB Captain Kyle Stoffers "we're number...two...???

Lovin every ounce!

Name: Brenda Baxter

Nickname: Jumbleez, Baxter

Years: 1999-2003

Position: Lock (#5!)

Favorite Memory: Sloshball practices with Haig and Wren and Suitcase Saturday!


The Gaucho responds: "You actually practiced sloshball...?"

Women vs ASU

The 2010 UCSB Women's Rugby Team start their season on the road this weekend vs. ASU. Can they get the job done? Check back here for the results... If only they could lift like the ladies of the past...

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Women adore him; fish fear him!

UCSB professor, rugby coach and world-famous innovator in the field of human geography Reginald Golledge died at his home this past year.
Affectionately known as “Reg” by friends and family, Golledge, 71, began teaching at UCSB in 1977 and helped found the fields of human and behavioral geography during his tenure at the university. Golledge - who was declared legally blind in the 1980s - helped create the Personal Guidance System, a device that helps blind people navigate.
According to Jack Loomis, a UCSB psychology professor and close friend, Golledge was a tremendous scholar. “I know he was truly one of the great geographers of all time for the huge role he played in developing the field of behavioral geography,” Loomis said. “He did much to improve blind people’s access to spatial information.”
Reg’s cause of death was not made public. However, Reg was in poor health before his death. He had survived cancer five times and had been recently dealing with a heart condition. UCSB geology professor Ed Keller said Golledge never allowed his blindness to interfere with his life. Despite the handicap, Keller said he was a competitive sportsman.
“He had a great sense of humor and loved darts - we won a tournament after he lost his sight!” Keller said. “I just had to head him in the right direction with a marker and advise Reg where the first dart landed. He made adjustments and we won the tournament. … Our opponent was so surprised he fell on the floor in shock and surprise.” (That opponent was none other than Gaucho Assistant Peter Crick)!
According to Bill Norrington, Golledge’s administrative assistant for over 10 years, Golledge was also an avid fisherman.“His favorite hobby was fishing, and he was darn good at it, even after losing his sight,” Norrington said. “He often fished for trout at Lake Cachuma, and he invariably caught the most and the biggest. As the T-shirt says, ‘Women adore him; fish fear him!’”
As a professor, Golledge was highly decorated. UCSB’s Academic Senate recently named him Faculty Research Lecturer of 2009, its highest honor for a faculty member. Golledge had been scheduled to give a public lecture next fall as part of the award.
During his life, Golledge published dozens of books and articles on the field of human geography. Even after losing his eyesight, he remained a prolific writer. Through his assistants, Golledge was known to vigorously edit all his writing. Golledge received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1966 and also held an honorary Ph.D. from Göteborg University in Sweden. Golledge was the chair of the UCSB geography department from 1980 to 1984.Golledge is survived by his wife of 32 years, Allison, and his children Bryan, Brittany,

Early Gaucho Rugby

“UC Santa Barbara defeats Fullerton for Southern California Championship!” announced the UCSB rugby team’s surprising 8-3 victory in the Championship match on the cement-like pitches of the 1968 Catalina Rugby Tournament. This victory heralded the arrival of the Gaucho men’s rugby team on the growing Southern California rugby scene. Not only was this the first recorded tournament championship for the fledgling program at the seaside campus, but also, it was an unlikely victory over the hardened and long-established Fullerton club side. This championship marked a significant achievement in the early days of the UCSB men’s rugby team, indicating there was much more to come. And there was!

But, first, it is important to know that this milestone championship arose from a long-standing rugby tradition in Santa Barbara. The UCSB rugby program traces its roots to the 1930’s football program at the small Santa Barbara State College. Future UCSB Hall of Fame football stars such as All-American Doug Oldershaw (1934), who went on to play professional football for the NY Giants, and All American Bob Morelli (1934-5), doubled as rugby stalwarts in the earliest Gaucho rugby sides. These Gaucho gridiron greats, coached by Spud Harder, for whom the campus stadium is named, provided athletic talent and energy to the earliest days of rugby competition in the Santa Barbara area.

Just as the State College campus on the Riviera went through a transformation in 1944 to become a full campus of the University of California, so too did rugby in Santa Barbara undergo fitful growth as a city club team over this same period. Professor Robert Kelley in his comprehensive history of UCSB (Transformations, UC Santa Barbara 1909-1979), states that at the beginning of World War II “. . . 1360 students left for the military services, which greatly reduced a campus enrollment which only had just reached 1900” (p.4). Such a dramatic reduction in students affected not only the academic development of the campus, but also its athletic and sports programs as well. As a result of the war, the early rugby tradition established at the college waned along with many other aspects of the student environment. However, participation and interest in rugby did continue in the broader community, as various rugby acolytes informally maintained their rugby pursuits through occasional matches loosely organized around a Santa Barbara City team.

According to Kelley, “Santa Barbara’s students returning from wartime service after 1945 soon swelled to a flood that, as at other college and university campuses around the nation, filled the campus to overflowing. There was not much room for this expanded enrollment on the small Riviera campus” (p.7).

By the mid-1960s the surging campus moved to 408 acres on Goleta Point and became a full general campus of the University of California. These changes brought an increasingly varied student population, including some with previous rugby experience. The University expanded offerings and opportunities in academics, athletics, the arts, and recreation. As primarily a residential campus, team sports and intramurals were very popular with the students. Men’s rugby re-emerged as one of those sports organized through the department of recreation. Organizational impetus came from outside the student body as well. Having doubled as football and rugby athletes at Stanford and Cal respectively, Rod Sears and Rudy Carvajal arrived at UCSB in 1966 as newly hired assistant football coaches. With their experience in long-standing programs, they provided invaluable support and guidance to the newly developing Gaucho rugby club. By 1967, student interest in rugby was growing. With the likes of future rugby All-American John Keever, and a cadre of his teammates from the successful football program, many of whom had participated in the Camellia Bowl, winning habits and tenacity quickly became characteristics of Gaucho rugby. Sears’ ability to navigate the bureaucracy of both the University and the Southern California Rugby Union, along with his tireless efforts to recruit new players, provided invaluable support to enable Gaucho rugby to quickly became a viable athletic program at UCSB.

Success was immediate. By the end of the 1967-68 season, the Gauchos were full members of the Southern California Rugby Union, vying for the league championship. They enjoyed a 12-7 record overall, including victories over more established sides such as Eagle Rock, Occidental, and San Diego State. The tournament victory at Catalina at the end of the season capped the year’s success.

In 1969, a Gaucho sudden death thriller over the venerable Los Angeles Rugby Club (20-17) at the same Catalina Championship Rugby Tournament cemented the club’s reputation as an up and coming collegiate powerhouse.

In 1970, the site of the Southern California Rugby Championship Tournament moved to UCSB, where the Gauchos would have an opportunity to defend its two-year-running success on their home turf in Harder Stadium. A new chapter of the Gaucho rugby tradition was about to open as the tournament would grow and develop to become the Santa Barbara International Rugby Tournament, one of the largest and most popular 15 a-side tournaments in the world.

Tune in later for future articles on the rich history and lore of Gaucho men’s and women’s rugby at UCSB.

Cheers,
Mel Gregory
Parvi sed Lenti

Where Gauchos Play...Part deaux

Where Gauchos Play

THE HINKIN

it is a photo of me during UCSB v Fullerton St in 1991 (they used to be D1) that ran in the Nexus. This was also my first A side start (as a rookie) so the veterans REALLY made me drink a lot of beer... cheers,

james Hinkin