April 27, 1986: First-Ever Atlantis Team:
Runners-Up at Harvard Sevens
(Atlantis tournament 1)
Emil Signes
JUNE 14, 2013 (rev. July 12, 2013)
Note of June 14, 2013: I'm
writing this in 2013 as nothing exists on paper (and certainly not
digitally) from that event. - Emil
Note of July 12, 2013: I just found some documentation on
the 1986 events; it is included below.
Flush from our success (we didn't win the tournament, but the guys
all enjoyed playing together) as an unnamed
team in the Sudamericano Sevens in DC in 1985, I gathered up another group of potential
ERU (Eastern Rugby Union) All-Star players to compete
in the Harvard Sevens. I gave the team the name
Atlantis for Atlantic Sevens, and
conjured up the aquamarine color
(it kind of morphed into teal over the years) and
Roman numerals from some version or
other of the Atlantis legend.
The jerseys, however, didn't arrive in time and we
wore the ERU "dart shirts" (see below). It was a
"drive up, sleep, play in the
tournament" kind of event, so while I am the coach of record, I certainly didn't
do any coaching (though I had coached most of
these guys at one time or another before).
We got to the finals,
where we got run over by a "little guy with a beard" from the
Hartford Wanderers, to whom we lost 16-10 (4-point tries).
After posting the team
picture a couple of years ago on Facebook,
describing the guy that beat us with a great run for the winning try,
and asking if anyone knew
who he was, the
responses led me to believe
it was
Hartford scrumhalf Joe Bordiere.
The Atlantis
squad is listed
below. One of the things I started doing
with Atlantis teams is number
players 1st chronologically, second
alphabetically. I just did it on a
whim, but now that the number is above 900 it
turns out to have been a
great idea, one Sarah
Sall used in a party in
my honor in Las Vegas
this February.
At any rate, the first
Atlantis team,
preceded by their
Atlantis numbers,
followed by positions
(positions
noted July 12,
2013).
1 Geoff Bermingham, OMEX: FH (1), C
(1), W (1)
2 John Campbell,
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh,
P (3)
3 Mark Caron, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, H (4)
4 Dick Cooke, Memphis Olde #7, SH (4)
5 Bill "Hoover" Downing,
Bethlehem, P (4)
6 Marcus Maffei,
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh, C (4)
7 Pete Peluso, Bethlehem, W (4)
8 Dave Priestas, Bethlehem, FH
(4), SH (1)
9 Donald Rae, Blackthorn, P
(3), H (1)
Coach: Emil Signes (Staff #1:)
Here is the team
picture of the original Atlantis team. As we
didn't get our new (aqua, turquoise, teal - whatever)
jerseys in time for this event, we wore the
first-ever ERU
jerseys, nicknamed both the "bowling shirts" and the "dart shirts" by their original wearers,
the ERU 7s team of 1985. They did,
however, anticipate the new lightweight jerseys introduced at
the advent of this third
millenium. Though
they
certainly weren't skin tight.
noted on July 12, 2013: that
the reason I am able to list DNP (did not play) in these
early tournaments is that until approximately 1990 no
substitutions were allowed except for injury (i.e. no
tactical subs).
Game Results:
W 30-4 Berlin Trotters.
Tries: Peluso 2, Maffei 2, Downing , Cooke.
Conversions: Cooke 3. (DNP: Caron, Bermingham)
W 22-4 Old North Bridge (Charles River B).
Tries: Priestas 2, Rae, Cooke.
Conversions: Cooke 2. (DNP: Downing, Peluso)
W Quarterfinal: 16-10 Toronto Lions.
Tries: Downing, Peluso 2.
Conversions: Cooke 2. (DNP: Maffei, Rae)
W Semifinal: 12-0 Mystic River.
Tries: Maffei 2, Cooke. (DNP: Cambell,
Bermingham)
L Final: 10-16 Hartford Wanderers.
Tries: Maffei, Peluso. Conversion:
Bermingham. (DNP: Campbell, Cooke)