50th Anniversary a Huge Success!

I’m happy to report that the Portland Rugby Club’s 50th Anniversary Old Boy Festival and Banquet were a huge success yesterday. The current men’s and women’s teams stepped up as asked and help create an incredible event to honor five decades of Pigs history.

The tournament (as most of you know) was held at the new home of Pigs rugby, Northgate Park in North Portland. More info coming soon on the specific nature of the arrangement made with Portland Parks and Rec, but we fully expect to be at Northgate for both practices and games in the years to come, and starting it off with a full day of old boys rugby was a perfect beginning. The money raised from both the Festival and Banquet will go towards portable lighting at Northgate this Fall!

Many thanks to Old Boar Wayne for donating the use of the tents at the field, John at Shut Up And Eat for the amazing pulled-pork sandwiches, our sponsor Widmer for all the bottled beer the old boys could drink, the Lady Pigs for a tasty bake sale and JC Guadiz for hauling around the rugby posts in his truck.

A huge thanks to Shana Norton-Terrall and Andrea Crosby for planning the banquet at the Bossanova Ballroom which went off without a hitch. It wouldn’t have been possible without a ton of current Pigs and Lady Pigs volunteering their Saturday night to be the servers and dishwashers and greeters and setup/teardown crew, a huge SOOOOUEY to all of you guys that helped out! Volunteer Coordinators Paul Gardner and Lee Chapman were exemplary in their organization and leadership.

A hefty congratulations goes out to Cleve Larson, Tom Hussey, Bill Benowicz and Patrick Donaldson who all received ‘Golden Boar’ awards for their years of service to the club and integral roles in keeping the PRC alive and well for 50 years.

The banquet also was the first PRC event featuring our new charity partners SE Works, which had four staff members that attended and most likely learned far too much about rugby culture in just a few hours. Cheers to SE Works!

It was great to see players from all five decades present at both events, as this club wouldn’t be around if not for their commitments and sacrifices over the years. We thank each and every one of them for carrying the torch through the years.

I know that I can speak for the current crop of Pigs when I say that we are excited to continue the tradition of success and camaraderie that has been handed to us, and we will all do our part to make sure the next 50 years is as great as the last fifty.

Cheers to you all,

In Rugby,

Alex Johnson

Secretary, Portland Rugby Club