Saturday in Salt Lake City saw the 2023 class of the US Rugby Hall of Fame inducted at a gala event leading up to the USA vs Stade Toulousain game.
MC'd by USRF Director Brian Vizard the event was attended by a long list of Hall of Famers and former Eagles. As often happens at this event, a couple of inductees had large contingents of supporters in attendance to recognize their friend or mentor or teammate.
Special Awards
Craig Sweeney Award: Brian Hightower. The award is named after the highly-respected USA player who died from a heart attack while training after earning his fourth cap, and the award itself is given to a capped player who was respected by his peers and the rugby community and has made significant contributions to the game following a playing career, while showing to be a person of exemplary character. Hightower was a championship player for the Gentlemen of Aspen, played overseas, and played for the Eagles in 7s and 15s, including the 1997 7s World Cup and the 1999 15s World Cup. He went on to be a successful rugby broadcaster.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Dr. Dale Toohey. A longtime coach for Cal State Long Beach, the first Chair of the USARFU National Collegiate Committee, and served USA Rugby in a variety of technical and coaching roles. Though born in Australia, Dale Toohey spent almost his adult life dedicated to helping American rugby.
Chairman's Award: Dr. John Fowler. Capped by the USA in 15s and 7s, and selected for a World XV on two occasions, Fowler played for the Santa Monica and Cincinnati Wolfhounds rugby clubs. He received this award for his career as a physician and advocate for emergency medical preparedness. Much of his work has been in Turkey where he trained those who ran the rescue efforts after Turkey's devastating Marmara earthquake. He is a world expert in emergency medicine care.
2023 Hall of Fame Inductees
Roy Helu moved to the USA from Tonga, didn't know there was rugby in California, showed up at an Old Blues practice in the Bay Area, and led them to six national club championships, being named the MVP of the 1983 championship. He was capped 14 times for the USA (playing in another 20 non-cap games for the Eagles), including the 1987 Rugby World Cup. He became a hugely successful coach, and is one of the most respected backs of American rugby in the 1980s.
Bob Latham was a standout player for Stanford, UVA, and the Dallas Harlequins, but his biggest influence was as a Boardmember of USA Rugby and USA Rugby's representative with World Rugby and the USOPC. His work pushing for rugby to be in the Olympic Games is perhaps his strongest legacy.
Dr. Julia McCoy coached the USA women's 7s team twice, leading them to a 3rd-place finish in the inaugural 7s World Cup women's bracket. She developed modern High Performance techniques and camps before the words High Performance started to lose their meaning, and her innovative approach to teaching and coaching the game at a high level produced rugby stars. Capped by the Eagles in 7s, McCoy is a hugely respected neurologist. The fact that her American Rugby Pro Training Center was not embraced by USA Rugby as one of the core development organizations for women's 7s is one of the great failures of USA Rugby's High Performance efforts.
