The 1964 Rugby Foundation in Ohio is hosting their second ever Rugby Ball on Saturday, November 20 to present two special honorees and to raise funds for grassroots rugby efforts.

The 1964 Foundation supports youth rugby and grassroots rugby throughout Northeast Ohio. They provide grants to pay for jerseys, balls and other equipment, coaching, and to support youth initiatives. 

The 1964 Foundation provided a significant grant to the Rookie Rugby Cleveland spring season, enabling kids who otherwise could not afford to play to get on the field.

Got to love this Try of the Week-Week 4. Power running, offloads, wide passing & open field running, a great pickup and a sidestep, and teamwork all over the place. Thanks @Cleveland_Title @shamrockcompany and 1964 Foundation @CLESports @RugbyOhio @usayhsrugby @EagleImpactAcad pic.twitter.com/ZbP04aqjyu

— Rookie Rugby Cleveland (@RookieRugbyClev) May 6, 2021

The first Rugby Ball was held in 2014 and 300 people attended. it raised $40,000. This year, the goals are 500 people and $100,000. In addition, two great servants of rugby in the region will be honored—Jason Fox and Tony Vegh.

Fox is currently the Head Coach at Notre Dame College, but has been a player, coach, and rugby advocate for decades. Vegh is a fixture in the city and before that with the Philly-Whitemarsh men's club. Currently the Head Coach for the St. Ignatius HS freshman team. There's more to those stories (which you can see below). 

Seats can be reserved at The Rugby Ball, to be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio November 20. Go Here>>

You can also purchase a sponsorship to support what the 1964 Foundation is doing here>>

Jason Fox and Tony Vegh actually crossed paths many years ago, in Houston, Texas. That was 1985, when Fox was in his senior year at University of Houston, where he ran track. An injury forced Fox, a middle distance runner, to quit the track team and he started playing rugby. After UH beat Texas A&M, he was talked into joining the Houston Rugby Club.

"One of the guys who met me and talked to me about it was Tony Vegh," said said.

Vegh, for his part, played football at Cornell and when his eligibility was up he turned to rugby. He played wherever his job sent him—Pittsburgh Harlequins, Whitemarsh Rugby Club in the Philadelphia area, and then Houston.

"Rugby was just fun," Vegh told Goff Rugby Report. "With football I was tired. I had played through a major injury. But I was also lucky in rugby. At Whitemarsh it was a real blue collar club and I was coached by [US Hall-of-Famer] George Betzler; I am not sure I realized how lucky I was to be coached by George."

Vegh's employer then sent him to Houston where he played five seasons, captained the team, and played for the Texas Selects. Meanwhile Fox was playing and playing well, but had no idea of the broader appeal of rugby. He eventually was invited to a couple of Eagle camps, and that's when he saw it.

"I didn't understand the global aspect of rugby when I was in college," Fox told GRR. "Not until I went to Eagle Camp."

Fox didn't make the Eagles, but he played on numerous territorial and regional select sides, and played for the Atlantis 7s team all over the world at a time when Atlantis often outperformed the USA 7s team. On that team he received coaching from another US Hall-of-Famer in Emil Signes.

Both men eventually arrived in Cleveland, which was where they both grew up, and put down rugby roots. Fox had turned to coaching by then, coaching the USA 7s team, and Atlantis, before joining the St. Edward HS staff in 1999. Becoming a coach, said Fox, was partly due to the influence of Vegh.

"Tony was one of my mentors," he said.

Vegh's journey back to Cleveland began with law school at Case Western before he moved back to the Philadelphia area. There he played for the Philadelphia-Whitemarsh club. An imposing second row he was a fixture there for over 15 years.

By the early 2000s both Fox and Vegh were in Cleveland thinking about high school rugby. Fox took over as St. Edward Head Coach in 2003, and Vegh contacted him about the idea of starting rugby at St. Ignatius. That, said Fox, would be a tough sell, and it was. They played as the Warriors Rugby Club for years, practicing off campus and with the only nod to the school being that they played in the same colors. Vegh was instrumental in starting that program and in helping it become a legitimate varsity sport there.

Fox went on to work at Rugby Ohio meeting with athletic directors and advocating for support of high school rugby—Avon Lake, Avon, and Brunwick teams all started in part because of his support. Vegh was still playing, running out for the Dolomites old boys team, as well as now mentoring young players as head of the SIHS development program. Fox joined Notre Dame College as backs coach in 2012 and took over as Head Coach a few years later, leading them to two DIAA finals, winning one. A firefighter (his station is next door to St. Ignatius HS even though he's a St. Edward Eagle), he has represented the USA in the World Police and Fire Games for over 20 years.

They were teammates, opponents as players and coaches, and had an advisor/mentor relationship too. 

"It's kind of cool," said Fox. "You get an Eastside guy and a Westside guy, a St. Eds guy and a St. Ignatius guy, recognized together."