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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1976)
A bigger Bryan enjoying the life on top By JOHN HENDERSON Of the Emerald The setting was the tail kickoff luncheon in Au gust, and Oregon football coach Don Read was talk ing about defensive tackle Rudy Bryan. ■ Rudy’s part Indian and some of the players used to kid him about it by calling him Chief','' said Read. Then he came back this summer an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier, and they all started calling him ‘Sir’.’’ Read drew a big laugh from the local press corps, but the 6-3, 230-pound Bryan wasn't even chuckling when he was sitting on the junior varsity bench two years ago. He had some playing time, but it took a year of red-shirtting last year and a big spring before Bryan moved into the starting line-up. He was listed as third string in this year’s media guide before he beefed up this summer. And it wasn't through a scientific diet or steroids. “It was just good home cooking,’’ said Bryan as he basked in the sun after a recent practice. “I lifted some weights and did a lot of exercising, but I really just ate a lot more this summer.” His improvement has been remarkable as he's started all five games, and will probably start this Saturday when the Ducks visit fourteenth-ranked Notre Dame. "He's bigger, stronger, quicker and smarter," rattled off Read. "He's closer now technique-wise to a top-notch football player. But this comes with repet ition.'’ Bryan isn’t what you'd call the most abrasive person in the world. It's dear that his own improve ment isn't Ns favorite subject for conversation. “I just try to do my best, and see what happens,” said Bryan. "I set goals for myself, but basically I just try to improve every game. The Oregon coaching staff discovered Bryan in Barstow, Calif., a small town of 30,000 right in the middle of the sweltering Mojave Desert. The heat of the Astroturf didn’t even phase him. "Everybody down there told me about the rain," said Bryan. “But I’ve gotten used to it. It’s no problem. It’s a lot more beautiful country here. There’s nothing in the desert. “We had to travel by bus through the desert for everything. Now we can just fly.” It’s obvious the cheerful giant is enjoying life in • Oregon. His own play, however, is one aspect of his life he’d still like to see get better. "I’m learning still,” he said. “Pass rushing is definitely not one of my stronger points. I just got to keep low. That’s going to be pretty important this weekend.” When the Ducks travel to tradition rich South Bend, Ind. Saturday to face the 3-1 Irish, Bryan mil go against Steve McDaniels, a 6-6, 280-pound of fensive tackle from Seattle. Notre Dame, as usual, is huge. "We’re capable of stopping what they've got,” said Bryan. “Look at Cal. We didn’t win, but we did an awful lot of things right. We've faced teams a lot more flamboyant than Notre Dame. They try to run the ball right over you.” Like all players who await their first meeting with Notre Dame, Bryan couldn’t help but get a little starry-eyed about the thought. "When I look back to this game, it’ll be some thing l"H always remember," said Bryan. “Playing Notre Dame is really something special.” Especially for a guy who was third-string just last spring. By day, he’s a grad student On the weekends, he’s a rugger By CHRIS NORMAN Of the Emerald What compels a person to leave the leather-bound serenity of Mel ville and Twain to pursue the bone-crunching sport of rugby? "It's the brotherhood of the sport, it's an alternative to football and it's a heU of a lot of fun,” says Vic Bobb, a University graduate teaching fellow in English and member of the Eugene Rugby Club Such is the prevalent attitude among this group of body-bruisers whose members range from a lumber broker to a lawyer to a sec tion hand for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Club's philosophy toward rugby as a sport digs a bit deeper than in most sports. They have dusted off and revived the old fashioned ideals of comaraderte and fair play, and not, as Bobb labels it, “the win at any cost idea." In football, Bobb says, “You have the pounding on the lockers, despising anything that wears black and orange, and you hate, hate, hate. In rugby, you may have pounded your opponents face into the ground, but you do an equival ent amount of buying him a beer, singing dirty songs and trading jocks." "It’s so fun to play rugby," Bobb says, "that when you run across a team that is bull — to play, who throw cheap shots, we don’t play them any more.” For instance, last spring the Eugene Club refused to show up at a game with the Portland Pigs because they were tired of playing a team that debases the sport. On the other hand, when the University of Montana rugby team passes through the area, their schedule is completely full be cause everyone enjoys playing a team who will compete for fun rather than engage in bush league rugby. Another attractive feature of the Club is its independent aura. No private business sponsors it to supply much needed jerseys, shorts and socks, and. as Bobb explains. ‘It s a little classier to not have 15 different colored shorts and socks." Yet. multi-colored uniforms don't seem to bother the dub too much, because “we aren't willing to carry their advertising — we’d rather be independent." he said. Unfortunately, the team’s fierce independence can be a handicap, especially when it means no per manent practice field. Even though it calls itself the 'Eugene' Rugby Club, the city ignores them. Bobb says the park bureau re fuses to give the chib a practice field because of the rugby image. that of “filthy, old men who molest passing women.” What action will the Club take to resolve this image in hopes of re ceiving a field? "Nothing," Bobb says proudly, “because with it goes the playing without pads and eating raw meat image,” which the dub likes. So for the future, the Eugene Rugby Club, with its beer-drinking fraternal comaraderie, its inde pendence and its raw-meat eating-molester image, might never reach the mammoth size of a professional football team, but then again, it might never want to either. sportfolio— Club sports schedule meetings The following dub sports will hold organizational meet ings for fail competition or practice: FENCING There will be a meeting at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 18 in room 103 Gerlinger Hail for all fencers interested in the Uni versity Fendng Club. SKIING The Oregon ski team will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. tonight in the EMU, room to be posted, for all interested competitors. Prior radng or extensive skiing background is not necessary, and this year's schedule and fall training program will be covered. Further questions may be directed to Steve McClain (342-1071) or Eloise Carson (345-5858), alpine coaches, or cross country coach Paul Daly (345-1806). RODEO Oregon's rodeo dub will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14 in the EMU, room to be posted. No experience is required. For further information, contact Phil Bevans (726-8749) even ings. Oregon-Husky tickets on sale Tickets are now on sale for the Oct. 23 Oregon Washington game in Seattle in the athletic department next to McArthur Court. Reserve seat tickets are $4, and students must show a paid fees card. For more information call the AD x5486.) IM run set for tonight There is an intramural cross-country run set for 4 p.m. tonight on the IM field behind the covered tennis courts. Length will be two miles, and is open to all students and faculty. Just two years ago, defensive tackle Rudy Bryan was riding the bench on the junior varsity. Now, after beefing up to 6-3 and 230 pounds, Bryan has moved up to starting defensive tackle on the varsity and is anxiously awaiting Notre Dame. V emerald sports J Electrical engineer new wristwrestling champion PETALUMA, Calif. (AP) — Virgil Arciero, a balding 39-year old electrical engineer, strained for 20 sweaty seconds against his muscu lar 19-year-dd opponent. Jack Wright, and then pinned his arm to the table a few minutes after 2 am. Sunday. The standing room only crowd of 2,400 roared, cheered, whistled and stomped on the floor as the climax was reached in the 15th Annual World’s Wristwrestling Championship — an event bom in Diamond Mike Gilardis bar in 1954. Arciero, a 6-foot-4,240-pounder from Cerritos, Calif., captured the heavyweight title after losing in three previous years. Wright, a student from Granada Hills, Calif., lamented, “I made a mistake. I let him get the jump." Jim Dolcini, who has won the heavyweight title four times including last year, didn't enter, saying, “I don’t have anything left to prove.” The biggest flap of the night came during a lightweight matchup between Joe Rarick, 20, of New Baltimore, Mich, and Ron Bennett of nearby Sonoma. Rarick appeared to wn the first time, but the boisterous crowd booed and shouted its displeasure, prompting Rarick to use both arms and hands in gestures of contempt to the audience. A second contest was ordered and Bennett won it after about 90 seconds of straining. But officials huddled for 20 minutes, then decided to make it two out of three, and Rarick won the third match to advance to the finals, and win the lightweight title. Bob Howell of Reno, Nev., won the middleweight title and Steve Lusdy of Davenport, Iowa captured the featherweight crown. In the women's division, University of Califomia-Davis student Deborah Lyle, 20, won the lightweight title and Mildred Choplick, a 28-year-old wool-weaver from Fairfax, Iowa, won the heavyweight competition. Sailors second in Husky Regatta SEATTLE — The University sailing team finished second in the annual Kick Off Regatta sponsored by Washington last weekend. Eight Northwest schools competed in the event, which was held both Satur day and Sunday on Lake Washington. Oregon's second-place finish qualifies the team for the University of British Columbia Team Race Regatta to be held Oct. 23 and 24.
